On Aug. 23, the Quinte West fire department responded to an apartment fire at 9 a.m. on Queen Street in Trenton.
The call came into firefighters at 5:30 p.m. that evening and even though the response time was only two minutes, it was too late to save the life of 24-year-old Raven Dagnall.
Dagnall was taken to Belleville General Hospital and was later transferred to Hamilton Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries on Sunday, Aug. 26.
The fire marshal is investigating but the cause has been put down to unattended cooking, according to the Quinte West Fire Department’s senior fire prevention officer Greg King.
King says there was no working smoke alarm in the apartment.
“The smoke alarm in the apartment had been removed from the ceiling and the battery was removed from the unit itself.”
King says it is both the tenant and landlord’s responsibility to make sure the smoke alarms are working.
“We’ll also be looking at potential charges against the owners of the building.”
As a direct result of the fatality, King says the fire department has launched a program called “After the Fire.”
On Aug. 29, firefighters knocked on the doors of homes and apartments in the immediate neighbourhood to talk to residents about fire safety.
King says they will do this after any fire where there are injuries or fatalities.
“Those people are aware of the fire, they are aware of the outcome of the fire and a lot of the time, the message means more.”
The first implementation of the education program was well received in the neighbourhood, according to King.
“They had a really positive response and actually, people from not on Queen Street but neighbouring streets, came over to get information to get that working smoke alarm information.”
WATCH: Fire Officials Urge Residents to Check Smoke Alarms, Practice Escape Plans
King says residents have to take responsibility for their own fire safety and that’s much of the information the fire department is sharing in the “After the Fire” program.
“The importance of having working smoke alarms, having an escape plan and also reminding people to never leave cooking unattended.”
The death of Dagnall is the second fire-related fatality in Trenton in the last eight months.