Two years ago, an estimated 39% of Ottawa homes were without a working smoke detector.
Last year, the number improved to 25%.
I am putting a plea out there to not only Ottawa residents, but EVERY Canadian to join my newly created “Ask Three Friends” campaign. No, there is no form, or email address required. No you do not have to give up any personal information. In fact, we don’t even keep a campaign supporters list. There is only one way to join.
When you visit a friend’s home, ask them “Do you have a smoke detector?”
No need to get into an argument if they don’t. Just tell them they are a cheap investment that can save their life. If we all ask the next three friends we visit, we can get that percentage down even further and it just might save that friend’s life. Or even better, if they say no, and that friend has a birthday coming up, buy them the gift of safety.
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An excellent idea Mulder!
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I am going to wait for Jack Layton to be elected and initiate a program to put one in every home free of charge. At 30 million Canadians (must be one per person) it should cost no more than 3 trillion dollars. Oh wait, I already do have one. I guess it will be confiscated and sold to help fund the program.
That should be the motto for smoke detector awareness: “Get one now! Before the government comes up with a program!”
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On a serious note, that stat seems really weird to me. I live in the Maritimes and I can almost visualize where most people I know have theirs. Maybe I just know a lot of safety conscious people here which is skewing my impression or maybe it is due to us being so rural (even our cities are closer to rural areas so lots of us have some familiarity with isolated areas) that the fire department and hospital services are far enough away that we do not have a false sense of security. Still, even the 39% seems high. If that is the number without any, think about how many have not enough, like one in the downstairs kitchen but non on the second floor. And how many of the 39% without a WORKING detector think that theirs is working but have not checked it in years?