Real solutions to save lives

Re Indigenous elder dies in weekend house fire,

June 23 Blaine Wiggins, executive director of Aboriginal Firefighters’ Association of Canada, says training more firefighters to put out blazes isn’t the best way to save lives. He says what is needed to prevent more fire deaths is addressing “the underlying challenges in many First Nations” and having working smoke alarms.

As for the position of an “Indigenous Fire Marshall’s office” — when a house has burned down, what has this Fire Marshall done to prevent it? And what exactly is contained in the “basic national fire code for First Nations reserves”?

If it’s just a bunch of words on paper, you might as well use that paper as kindling to start another fire. Until all the houses on all the reserves have working smoke alarms no nebulous “fire codes” or costly positions of Indigenous Fire Marshalls will be of any use. Let’s get practical and spend money on addressing the “underlying challenges” instead of having annual conferences and contests. How many fires have these conferences and contests saved in the 30 years they have been held? I would like for someone to identify exactly what are the underlying challenges instead of just using such meaningless terms. Kaarina Brooks, Alliston, Ont.