By Healthcare Facilities Today

The effects of a Jan. 23 fire at a Quebec senior home, where 32 people are believed to have died, are reaching south to the United States and across the Atlantic Ocean, according to an article on the Long-term Living magazine website.

Firefighters in Oak Ridge, Tenn., noting the blaze in Canada, are crediting the Patriot Park Assisted Living facility’s working sprinkler system with helping them contain a Jan. 31 fire there to one room, with minimal damage and an evacuation of residents that lasted only 20 minutes, according to the article.

In Great Britain, the Quebec fire has prompted independent fire safety experts to call for sprinkler systems to be installed in all United Kingdom (U.K.) senior living facilities, the article said.

Current regulations in the United Kingdom detail fire alarm and fire separation requirements in care homes, a representative of Safety Management said in the article.

The regulations call for emergency lighting, clearly marked and unblocked fire exits, prevention measures such as the removal of combustible materials from communal areas, careful and controlled storage of combustibles, and steps to stop the spread of fire, such as fire doors and extinguishers, said Brian Gregory, managing director of SMUK. But the U.K.does not require sprinkler systems, he adds.

SMUK in 2013 began campaigning for laws mandating sprinkler systems in U.K. high-rise apartments and now has extended that effort to care homes, shelters and public assistance housing there. 

Read the article.