CBRM fire chief sounds the alarm about fatal fires

The head of fire services for the Cape Breton Regional Municipality is sharing a sobering statistic.

“I've seen more fatal fires here in the last three years than I had in the previous 28 years of my fire service,” said Michael Seth, who took over as CBRM fire chief in November 2019.

Most recently, was the fatal fire at a Park Street apartment in Sydney on Dec. 17. It displaced seven roommates and killed a Cape Breton University international student.

Seth says factors include the number of houses in the area that were formally owned by mining companies, socioeconomics, and building and fire code maintenance.

Then, he adds there is the issue of overcrowded rooming houses.

"When they get identified, we try to deal with them as best we can within the confines of our regulations and our legislation,” said Seth.

“But at the end of the day, if it's a single-family dwelling we have limited access and limited ability to do that."

Paul Burt, CBRM building laws manager, says his department has gotten more complaints about rooming houses in recent months.

"I guess the big thing is overloading. The question we get almost daily here is 'How many people can we put in my home?'" said Burt.

"Sticking people in rooms that weren't designed for human occupancy or weren't designed for sleeping. There's code requirements for smoke alarms and that kind of stuff. People need to realize the implications of their actions."

John Lohr is Nova Scotia's housing minister. He told CTV Atlantic his department is aware of the need for student housing in the Sydney area, and pointed to a recent multi-million dollar investment.

“We put in $8 million just before Christmas into Tartan Downs,” said Lohr.

“We're committed to put that in, so we are doing things. We built residences for NSCC last year and we will continue to do more."

According to Zach Churchill, the leader of Nova Scotia’s Liberal party, there should be more availability in the province for affordable housing grants.

"We need to look at opening that up to the markets, so that anybody who wants to put a nanny suite in their basement or in their attic or a tiny home on their property can access these grants,” said Churchill.

When it comes to fatal fires, Seth says the next step is public education. The fire chief hopes to roll out a plan to the public in the near future.