Nearly a quarter of Manitoba personal care homes and hospitals still don't have fire safety sprinklers

Personal care homes and hospitals in Manitoba are trying to make progress on installing sprinkler systems for fire protection, but nearly a quarter of the health facilities still don't have them.

As of July, of the 193 facilities in the province — which includes 124 personal care homes — 23 per cent had no sprinkler systems, a provincial Shared Health spokesperson said in an email to CBC News.

The other 77 per cent of the personal care homes and health care facilities are equipped with either a full or partial sprinkler system.

In 2015, the provincial government amended the Manitoba Fire Code to require personal care homes and health facilities to have sprinkler systems installed by Jan. 1, 2026.

That followed a review by a Manitoba task force after a tragic fire in January 2014 that killed 32 residents at a nursing home in L'Isle-Verte, Que.

Sprinkler systems are important in all facilities, said Julie Turenne-Maynard, executive director of the Manitoba Association of Residential and Community Care Homes for the Elderly, or MARCHE.

In the event of a fire, "that sprinkler system is what could really, really make a difference of a fire going wild or having it controlled enough … [for] firefighters to come and put it out," she said. 

In Manitoba's 124 personal care homes, information from the province and CBC's research suggest the unconfirmed numbers are about 21 with partial systems and 26 that have none.

That would mean 77 have full sprinkler systems — the same number the province said had full sprinkler systems in January 2020.

The need for fire protection is underlined by provincial figures showing that between the start of 2019 and June of this year, there were 41 fire-related incidents reported at Manitoba properties categorized as homes for the aged.

The province did not provide details on any of the fire-related incidents.

Personal care homes located in Winnipeg were found to have violated the Manitoba Fire Code and related city bylaws more than 100 times in each of the past five years for issues related to fire safety.

There were 160 violations in 2022, according to data from the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service, which enforces the Fire Code in the city.

Examples of the violations include issues with "servicing and maintaining life safety systems, housekeeping around exit doors (for example, removing ice near a doorway), appliance-related issues, or storage of flammable materials," a fire department spokesperson said in an email.