BARBECUES NOT ALLOWED FOR P.E.I. APARTMENTS
Apartment dwellers in P.E.I. not allowed to fire up the barbie on their deck
Many owners of P.E.I. apartment buildings and their tenants have long turned a blind eye to the illegal practice of firing up burgers, steaks or hot dogs on the deck.
Charlottetown fire inspector Winston Bryan wants that to change.
Bryan says apartment dwellers are not allowed to have barbecues on their balconies or under overhangs.
Yet many barbies are visible throughout the capital city where they do not belong.
Bryan says enforcing the barbecue ban under the city’s fire prevention bylaw is a mighty challenge for him and the one other Charlottetown fire inspector.
For years, the fire inspectors have been complaint driven, but, Bryan notes, “we seldom receive complaints because everybody in the apartments want to use them.’’
He plans to work with owners of apartment buildings to help put the boot to barbecues.
“I think it’s an education thing,’’ he says.
“We want to work with people to make it a safe environment within our city.’’
Sandra VanWesterneng says she has fired up a propane barbecue on her apartment deck on Malpeque Road in Charlottetown year-round for years believing she was doing no wrong.
Last October, she and other tenants in her building were informed they had to get rid of their barbecues by this past March or be evicted.
“I was surprised,’’ she says. VanWesterneng, though, had no difficulty complying with the order.
“When I find out it is the law, I get it,’’ she says.
“It is for safety.’’
Jill Hobb, CAPREIT operations manager for P.E.I., says other tenants were not so receptive to the directive.
“Most tenants were not pleased…I did have a bit of backlash,’’ she says.
“They were not happy.’’ However, she believes most tenants have come around to appreciate the safety aspect.
“It’s the law and it’s for their own safety,’’ she says.
“God forbid anything should happen to any tenant because of that.’’
Bryan cannot recall a fire in Charlottetown caused by a barbecue on an apartment deck but is quick to add “the potential is there.’’
He also notes propane on an apartment deck endangers tenants and firefighters if there is a fire, regardless of the cause.
He points to the fire last week on Harley Street in Charlottetown that displaced more than 50 residents.
While the cause was linked to mulch outside a groundlevel apartment catching fire and spreading, Bryan says intense heat from the fire caused propane to be released from a barbecue propane tank, which “basically added more fuel to the fire.’’
P.E.I. fire marshal Dave Rossiter says propane or charcoal barbecues cannot be used on any apartment deck in the province.
“Basically, it is the property owners’ responsibility to ensure that they are not there,’’ he says, adding only a couple compliance orders are issued each year by provincial fire inspectors.
Trish MacPherson, executive vice-president of operations with CAPREIT, which owns almost 500 apartment units in P.E.I., says the company has a country-wide policy prohibiting the use of propane or charcoal barbecues on apartment decks.
“We feel pretty strongly that safety is a priority,’’ she says.
“We have always had a no-barbecue rule.’’
However, the rule has not been well enforced in P.E.I., concedes Hobb.
She says until recently, barbecues were being used regularly at CAPREIT apartments she manages in the province, as well as others across the Island.
“I guess nobody really thought about it,’’ she says.
“I do find that P.E.I. has been a little more lackadaisical on that topic.’’