As a vast majority of public fire and life safety educators are aware, a successful prevention program requires all components of the "Three E's" — Education, Engineering and Enforcement. There is also a relatively recent thought process that incorporates a fourth, Economic, but that is a discussion for another time.
Education is the part where we tell folks that doing a certain something is dangerous to their health and well-being and that they would be well advised to model safe (or correct) behavior. Engineering is recognizing that we can make a device, or something similar, that can eliminate or reduce said risk.
Most reasonable folks would expect that the first two "E's" would be enough to prevent dangerous behaviors and/or reduce harm and that the world would be a safer place for all. Sadly, time and again, it is proven that the most important element of the "E's" is Enforcement. That is the one which holds people accountable for their actions — or lack thereof — through fines, citations and in rare cases incarceration.
Traditionally, we in the fire service have been loathe to use the enforcement angle in residential fire situations since, surely, the family has suffered enough through loss of property, pet or worse yet a family member or two. It does not matter that Dad put the fireplace ashes in a plastic bag and placed them in a plastic trash can in the garage and he never put the smoke alarms back up after he had taken them down because he was painting the inside of the house.
'Unlucky accidents'
Instead of holding Dad accountable because he put his family in harm's way and was in my estimation anyway negligent in his acts, we put our arms around him and the family and lament this really unlucky "accident." Bet if Dad were driving drunk, with the family in the car, and involved in a minor fender bender he would have been led away in handcuffs. The next day he would be vilified in the local media for putting his family's lives in danger and outraged community members would demand he be made an example of.
And we then wonder why we have a problem in this country with fire death and loss!?
With all of that in mind, I would like to offer three great big cheers for Ontario Fire Marshall Pat Burke. FM Burke has been in the news in the great white north recently as he is proposing (GASP!) that people — adults specifically — who "risk or cause fires through negligence, especially deaths because they refused to install detectors or teach children to escape" actually be held criminally responsible.
These two different articles from Canada on this topic are worth a read:
Wow — what a novel thought! Actually holding people accountable for their actions as it relates to fires! While this way of thinking might make some in the fire service queasy, I would suggest that as people were charged and fined, and the media started reporting it, we would gradually start seeing reductions in fire death and injury. It could maybe lead to a cultural change in our communities and country.
Seat belt use and child passenger safety seats are prime examples of prevention programs that eventually needed the "Enforcement" — holding people accountable — component to force behavior change and really make buckling up, and putting kids in car seats, a culturally acceptable practice in our country. See Britney Spears from last year and the public outcry and outrage when people saw the picture of her holding her kid in her lap while driving!
When was the last time you heard or saw public outrage over the death of one or more people in a house fire with no working smoke alarm? Or due to a negligent act? Anyone?!
In all likelihood the vast majority of us can not claim ever seeing public outrage over a fire death as, after all, these things happen and it is just an accident — right?
