The B.C. administration is spending $1.6 million on fire safety education drives as deaths from fires continue to increase.
The fire commissioner’s yearly report was out today and it said fire-related deaths have increased 207 per cent since 2018.
In 2022, there were 9,087 fires resulting in 212 injuries and 86 deaths.
Fire commissioner Brian Godlonton said a lot of deaths would be avoidable with working smoke detectors.
According to the report, only 45 percent of reported residential structure fires had a working smoke detector.
A complete smoke-alarm social marketing movement is being launched by the province and a community fire-risk reduction dashboard.
“The Office of the Fire Commissioner yearly report provides important trends, which highlight the work that needs to be completed to stop these fires from happening in the first place,” said Godlonton in a release.
“The dashboard combined with the smoke alarm and social-marketing drive will not only help avert fires but, more notably, avert injuries and save lives.”
The dashboard is expected to roll out in the next few weeks while the smoke alarm education drive is planned for the fall.
