A duplex in Barrie's Allendale area could have looked much different on Sunday if it wasn't for the quick actions of one of its tenants.
Michelle McQueen has lived in the lower level of the duplex since December. On Friday morning her hard-wired interconnected smoke alarm and strobe light went off.
Smoke was detected from a kitchen on the upper level after the tenant left the home and forgot a pot on the stove. McQueen says she could smell smoke, called 911 and got her family to safety.
"Myself and my son and our two dogs left the house and went into the backyard and waited for the fire department,” she says.
Barrie fire platoon chief Jeff Catteau responded to that call. He says it could have been much worse if not for the hard-wired smoke alarm.
"It alerted the people downstairs that there was a problem in the building and they contacted us right away before the fire was able to expand upstairs."
According to the Ontario Building Code, any new home constructed after 2015 must have a combination smoke and carbon monoxide hard-wired alarm and strobe on every storey of a residence and inside every sleeping area.
"Incidents like this are able to be mitigated before they become severe or somebody gets injured."
According to the Ontario Building Code, homes built before 2015 aren't required to have a hard-wired smoke alarm.
However, Barrie fire officials hope this story will encourage others to see the value in these types of devices.
