Christmas Day Fire Leads To Connecticut Bill Mandating CO, Smoke Detectors In Homes

It doesn’t get much worse than this: Three girls and their two grandparents were killed in a Christmas Day fire in Stamford, Conn. But some good may come out of that tragic situation.

Connecticut now has a bill, prompted by that Christmas horror, that requires residential buildings to have both carbon monoxide detectors and smoke alarms. On Thursday, that bill went through a legislative public safety committee in an 18-5 vote, according to The Hartford Courant.

http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-stamford-smoke-detectors-0316-20120315,0,3722778.story

There is one catch. That committee excised a part of the bill that called for fines for those who don’t comply with it. Public officials, according to The Courant, didn’t think that the fine could effectively be enforced. But they believe even without fines the bill will increase public awareness of the necessity for carbon monoxide detectors and smoke alarms.

The Nutmeg State already has a law that mandates that commercial buildings and multifamily structures have carbon monoxide and smoke detectors, The Courant reported. But now residential buildings will be subject to the same mandate.

The original version of the pending bill included fines of $200 to $1,000, or jail for six months, or both, for infractions. But that provision has been removed.

According to The Courant, the bill also mandates that homes that are being renovated must have working carbon monoxide detectors and smoke alarms. They can be shut off during the day when work is being done, but must be turned on again at night.

In the fatal Stamford fire, the home that went ablaze was being renovated and didn’t have working smoke detectors.

This pending bill is great in that it kills the proverbial two birds with one stone, by requiring carbon monoxide detectors and smoke alarms in residential buildings.