Don’t sleep on safety: test your alarms with Ottawa Fire Services

As part of the fall Wake Up! program, firefighters from Ottawa Fire Services will visit homes across the city next week to ensure smoke and carbon monoxide alarms are present and working. 

Ontario’s Fire Code requires that homes have a working smoke alarm on each floor and outside each sleeping area. Carbon monoxide alarms are also required outside sleeping areas if the home has an attached garage, a wood stove or a fuel-fired appliance. 

From Monday, September 22 to Monday, September 29, uniformed firefighters will: 

• Visit select residential areas during a two-hour period between 3 and 8 pm on weekdays and 2 and 4 pm on weekends

• Offer to inspect and test alarms

• Install smoke alarms and provide new batteries

• Share information on fire safety and home escape planning

• Leave fire safety information in the mailbox if no one is home

Since 2005, the Wake Up! program has helped make Ottawa homes safer by ensuring more families have working smoke alarms.  When the program began, firefighters installed alarms in about 40 per cent of the homes they visited.  Today, thanks to community awareness and stronger fire safety habits, that number has dropped to three per cent.

But the risk is real.  Even one home without a working smoke alarm is one too many.  Smoke alarms give you the time you need to escape in a fire and save lives.  That is why Ottawa Fire Services continues to visit homes every year, checking alarms, answering questions, and helping families stay safe.

This is a courtesy call only and all services are provided to residents for free. Residents are not obligated to provide firefighters access to their home. 

To learn more about the Wake Up! program, watch the video on Ottawa Fire Services’ Instagram or Facebook.

Test Your Smoke Alarm Day 

Missed the firefighters when they visited? Join thousands of households across Ontario in testing their alarms as part of Test Your Smoke Alarm Day on Sunday, September 28. Here’s how you can promote fire safety in your household: 

• Test your alarms once per month 

• Replace the alarms’ batteries once per year

• Install new alarms once every 10 years or as instructed by the manufacturer

• Review your fire safety habits and escape plan with your household regularly

Smoke alarms don't last forever. Learn more about smoke alarm safety and how your household could be saved by the beep on the website.

NEW: Want a lighter way to stay informed? Sign up for the City News weekly round-up newsletter for brief summaries and links to all the updates you may have missed.