It’s now the law in Ontario to install carbon monoxide (CO) alarms

It’s now the law in Ontario to install carbon monoxide (CO)
alarms in your home if you have a fuel-burning appliance or an attached garage. “If your home has a fuel-burning appliance or an attached garage, you must have a working CO alarm outside all sleeping areas of the home,” said Halton Hills Fire Dept. Fire Chief Brent Marshall. “For added protection, install a carbon monoxide alarm on every storey of the home according to manufacturer’s instructions.” Fuel-burning
appliances can include furnaces, hot water heaters, gas or wood fireplaces, portable fuel-burning heaters and generators, barbecues, stoves and vehicles.

Single-family homeowners and owners of residential buildings that contain no more than six suites have until April 15, 2015 to comply with the law. Owners of residential buildings with more than six suites have until October 15, 2015 to comply.  The law will be enforced by the Halton Hills Fire Department. Failure to comply with the CO alarm requirements could result in a fine of up to $50,000 for individuals or $100,000 for corporations. The Ontario Fire Code was amended October 15, 2014 to require CO alarms after the provincial government passed Bill 77 – the Hawkins Gignac Act, in December 2013. Bill 77 is named after OPP Constable Laurie Hawkins, who died, along with her husband
and two children, in her Woodstock, ON home from CO poisoning in 2008.

The Ontario Fire Code also requires that in condo and apartment buildings with a service room, CO alarms must be installed in the service room and outside all sleeping areas of all homes above, below, and beside the service room. In condo or apartment buildings that have a garage, CO alarms must be installed outside all sleeping areas of
all homes above, below, and beside the garage.

“In Ontario, more than 80% of injuries and deaths from CO occur in the home,” said Mayor Rick Bonnette. “The Chief and I want to make sure everyone in Halton Hills is safe from CO. Install CO alarms, and do everything you can to prevent CO in your home in the first place.”