PPMA Supports Winnipeg Building Commission Recommendations on Smoke Detector By-laws

by Stuart Pudavick-Treasurer of PPMA

The Winnipeg Building Commission has recommended to City Council that Section 7-subsections (4) and (5) to be amended as follows:

7(4) Smoke alarms shall not be installed within 3 feet of an entrance to a bathroom
7(5) Where a smoke alarm is installed in a single room residential unit or within 10 feet of an entrance way to any bathroom, it shall:
a) have a pause, hush, silencer or false alarm control feature
b) to be installed in accordance with the Canadian Standard for the installation of smoke alarms CAN/ULC-S553-M.

Thanks to the many appeals, those with hardwired
(electric) smoke alarms, no longer have to move the electricity from the ceiling to the wall and restore the ceiling damage. Those with Lithium powered smoke alarms can mount the detector on either the wall or the ceiling (as recommended by the manufacturer).

According to Roger Chamberland (Director of Fire Prevention), he has confirmed that no manufacturer will be introducing a hardwired smoke alarm without a battery back up in the foreseeable future. He also pointed out that as long as the power is being fed to the smoke alarm, there is no power draw from the battery. This would indicate that the battery will not have to be replaced once a year, but rather when the shelf life is over - typically 3 years.

A vote at City Council to accept this amendment should occur by early July. A notice will be forwarded from
the Emergency Response Service Department to the PPMA to keep us informed.

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