WESTLOCK — An investigation into the causes of the Jan. 31 blaze that destroyed the Commerce Building in downtown Westlock determined there was nothing suspicious about the causes.
Town of Westlock fire chief Stuart Koflick confirmed the results of the investigation during a Feb. 25 Westlock & District Chamber of Commerce meeting, where he was speaking about business owners’ fire safety responsibilities in light of the blaze.
“In that instance, I'm going to say that the fire alarm system functioned as intended, because the fire alarm system was one of the things that alerted the occupants that there was a fire occurring in the building,” Koflick said.
“One of the tenants had noticed smoke in the building, and had pulled one of the pull stations which activated the fire alarm. … At the end of the day, the fire alarm system functioned as intended, which avoided the loss of life, which is huge. Life safety is our No. 1 priority.”
Two people were sent to the hospital with smoke inhalation.
Koflick said some residential buildings are not required to have smoke detectors in the suites hooked to the building system, since they were built according to the codes of the day.
“One of the reasons for that is to cut down on fire alarm nuisance: ‘Oops, I burnt my toast and now the whole building is being evacuated because the fire alarm went off.’”
He said property owners should inspect the suite smoke detectors regularly.
Koflick told the Westlock News Feb. 3 that the Commerce Building fire was the hardest one to fight in the community in his 11 years as Westlock fire chief, due to the size of the building, the fact that people lived inside, its downtown location, and the –20 C temperatures that day.
