Two OHS Charges Against Fire Department Dismissed

When volunteer firefighters responded to a restaurant fire, a woman said her boyfriend was trapped in the apartment upstairs. So two firefighters went inside. One of them “lost air.” They were unable to get out and had to be rescued. The MOL charged the department with three OHS violations under the general duty clause. The defence asked the court to dismiss the charges. The court agreed that there was no evidence to support two of the charges and dismissed them. But it refused to dismiss the charge relating to failure to set up an accountability system to track firefighters entering a burning building. So the trial will continue on that remaining charge [R. v. Meaford and District Fire Department, Court File No.: County of Grey 1060-999-10-396, Feb. 23, 2012].