Nearly a quarter of Manitoba public health facilities that need fire safety sprinklers still don't have them

Personal care homes and hospitals in Manitoba are trying to make progress on installing sprinkler systems for fire protection, but nearly a quarter of the public health facilities still don't have them.

As of July, information from Shared Health that included 193 hospitals, health centres, and publicly owned personal care home locations in Manitoba showed 23 per cent had no sprinkler systems.

The other 77 per cent of the personal care homes and health care facilities are equipped with either a full or partial sprinkler system.

The facilities are part of a provincial fire and life-safety improvement project, but the list did not include privately owned personal care homes.

In 2015, the provincial government amended the Manitoba Fire Code to require personal care homes and health facilities to have sprinkler systems installed by Jan. 1, 2026.

That followed a review by a Manitoba task force after a tragic fire in January 2014 that killed 32 residents at a nursing home in L'Isle-Verte, Que.

Sprinkler systems are important in all facilities, said Julie Turenne-Maynard, executive director of the Manitoba Association of Residential and Community Care Homes for the Elderly, or MARCHE.

In the event of a fire, "that sprinkler system is what could really, really make a difference of a fire going wild or having it controlled enough … [for] firefighters to come and put it out," she said. 

In Manitoba's 124 personal care homes, information from the province and CBC's research suggest the unconfirmed numbers are about 21 with partial systems and 26 that have none.

That would mean 77 have full sprinkler systems — the same number the province said had full sprinkler systems in January 2020.

The need for fire protection is underlined by provincial figures showing that between the start of 2019 and June of this year, there were 41 fire-related incidents reported at Manitoba properties categorized as homes for the aged.

The province did not provide details on any of the fire-related incidents.

Personal care homes located in Winnipeg were found to have violated the Manitoba Fire Code and related city bylaws more than 100 times in each of the past five years for issues related to fire safety.

There were 160 violations in 2022, according to data from the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service, which enforces the Fire Code in the city.

Examples of the violations include issues with "servicing and maintaining life safety systems, housekeeping around exit doors (for example, removing ice near a doorway), appliance-related issues, or storage of flammable materials," a fire department spokesperson said in an email.

Plan in place to have sprinklers by 2026: province

The number of facilities with full sprinkler systems in Manitoba is expected to increase by 10 per cent in the coming year, Shared Health said, as more projects are to be tendered in 2023-24, including projects at:

• St. Claude Health Centre.
• St. Claude Pavilion personal care home.
• Rock Lake personal care home (Pilot Mound).
• Prairie View Lodge personal care home (Pilot Mound).
• Menno Home for the Aged personal care home (Grunthal).
• Red River Valley Lodge (Morris).

Projects already underway as of June include the installation of a sprinkler system and fire safety equipment upgrades at Ashern Personal Care Home and Lakeshore General Hospital, a Shared Health spokesperson said in an email.

At Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg, fire safety equipment upgrades were being finalized at the site of the former Women's Hospital, and a final inspection was underway recently for work at Rest Haven Care Home in Steinbach. 

Asked whether all facilities will be equipped with full sprinkler systems by the January 2026 deadline, Shared Health said a plan is in place for all sites, and "construction and installation activity will ramp up significantly in the coming months."

Shared Health didn't provide cost figures for adding sprinklers at all facilities, but a provincial news release in February 2022 said $280 million was being spent to fund upgrades for fire and life safety at health facilities.

The costs for installations can vary significantly from site to site, depending on factors like the facility's size, age and construction materials,  the Shared Health spokesperson said.

Construction costs for sprinklers and fire pumps can be approximately $200 to 300 per square metre, Shared Health said.

Of the 31 personal care homes represented by MARCHE, two have no sprinklers and eight have only partial sprinkler systems, Turenne-Maynard said.

The executive director of the Long Term & Continuing Care Association of Manitoba — a not-for-profit representing 29 personal care homes — said two of its member care homes don't have sprinklers yet.

"Obviously … you want to provide as safe an environment as possible for our seniors," said Sue Vovchuk, and her association is working to push the issue forward.

"It's still on our radar. We have not lost sight of it," Vovchuk said, adding she's working with Shared Health to resolve the situation. 

"We want resolution as quickly as possible."