Seagrave Followup

A follow up on the Seagrave site today.

On Saturday morning, I drove past the site, and I noticed they were busy erecting a fence around the property. It was a tall chain link type fence, I’m guessing that this was under orders from the Ministry of Labour.

Well, the genius, in charge of the fencing, enclosed two hydrants behind the fence. You can see photos of the dangerous fencing job here at the Mayor of Monmouth.

Sorry, that’s not going to cut it…

I sent an email out Monday morning to Lee Thome the Fire Prevention Officer for the city with my concerns about the fenced in hydrants:

Along the frontage of the Seagrave site, there are two fire hydrants. I drove past the site on Saturday morning, and I noticed that a large chain link fence has been erected around the property. The biggest problem to me is that both hydrants are now BEHIND the fence and inaccessible to firefighters in the event of an emergency.

I understand that the Ministry of Labour has shut the site down due to extremely unsafe conditions at the demolition site, and I am unsure if the fence is their doing, or the doing of the property owner Mr. Sood. However there are several businesses active in the area that would require those hydrants in the event of a fire. Especially of concern is the building immediately north of the seagrave property that contains multiple residences on an upper level and a restaurant on the ground floor. In the event of a fire, there is no hydrant in close proximity.

I sincerely hope that someone can inspect the site ASAP and order changes to the fencing surrounding the property, allowing access to the hydrants. As I know you are well aware, the lack of access to these hydrants even for a few minutes could be the difference between life and death for someone trapped in a fire.

I look forward to hearing a reply.

I got a response the following morning from Richard Marr the Assistant Chief Fire Prevention Officer, who told me at 8:15 am someone was being sent by to inspect the site.

The next response came at 9:00 am, 45 minutes later.

Dear Andrew,

Inspector Fabel has order the removal of the fence from the front of the hydrants at 9:00 hrs. The workers are in the process of doing that as we speak. Inspector Fabel will follow-up later this morning and let me know. When the fence is removed I will let you know.

Richard Marr
Assistant Chief Fire Prevention Officer
Windsor Fire & Rescue Services
815 Goyeau Street

I guess that putting the hydrants behind the fence wasn’t ok after all. Just like Mike Holmes says, make sure you hire competent contractors.

The photo above shows the hydrants and the “new” fencing.

If only other city departments ran even half as efficiently as Fire Prevention.