Oakville, Ontario – The Ontario Retirement Communities Association (ORCA) and its member homes consider fire safety, including the retrofitting of sprinklers in retirement homes, to be one of the most important priorities facing the sector today. The association fully supports province-wide efforts to enhance fire safety in retirement homes and other facilities that house and/or care for vulnerable populations in Ontario.
Representatives from ORCA have participated on a number of committees tasked with making formal recommendations to the Ministry of Correctional Services and Community Safety on how to enhance fire safety in occupancies that serve vulnerable populations, including seniors. A number of stakeholders have been involved in this process, which has provided an opportunity for the retirement home sector to show leadership when it comes to doing the right thing for Ontario’s retirement home residents.
“We have been an active and responsive participant in the multi-sectorial effort to enhance fire safety province wide,” says Laurie Johnston, CEO at ORCA. “Significant progress has been made over the past year and we look forward to continuing to work with government and stakeholders to both enhance and promote fire safety in retirement homes in a meaningful and practical way.”
Practical and meaningful solutions
ORCA supports mandatory installation of automatic sprinklers in retirement homes in the province without sprinklers (unless the installation is unfeasible). The priority now must be on ensuring that retirement homes are properly supported so that sprinklers and other fire safety building enhancements can be implemented in a timely and reasonable manner. ORCA is committed to working with various levels of government to come to a practical, responsible and realistic solution to reduce the financial impact associated with fire-safety retrofitting within retirement homes.
Public consultations related to vulnerable occupancy fire safety recommendations are expected over the next several months. Until then, ORCA looks forward to continuing to work with its partners and other stakeholders in promoting fire safety in the retirement home sector.
Stay tuned for more fire safety updates.