Moncton Fire Department unsure they have resources for short-term rental inspections – New Brunswick | 24CA News
Moncton councillor Charles Légèr is hoping to cross a bylaw that may require short-term leases to cross an inspection from town’s fireplace division earlier than having the ability to function.
“What I’d like to see is just a simple permit process where fire prevention would be able to go in and take a look and make sure that the safety features are there, then the permit number would be given to the short-term rental,” Légèr, who represents Ward 2, stated in an interview on Tuesday.
The name comes after seven individuals died at an Airbnb that caught fireplace in Montreal in March.
“This was very disturbing in that somebody could rent an apartment with no windows,” he stated.
“And then when there’s a fire such as the one in Montreal … they died as a result.”
While Fire Chief Conrad Landry helps the movement, he has issues about having the ability to implement it.
He says he wonders if they’ve sufficient workers to tackle the extra duty, and desires extra info on what number of short-term leases are within the metropolis.
“If there’s 100 Airbnbs we could do it but if there’s 1,000 that might include additional staff,” he stated.
He stated the division is already stretched skinny as it’s, because of Moncton’s rising inhabitants.
“The last few years we saw our call volumes increased, we have more fires, so when you investigate more fires you don’t have as much time to do inspections,” he stated.
He stated the dramatic improve in calls associated to overdoses has additionally elevated the workers’s workload.
“When a fire crew goes there for an overdose, when there’s a fire they can’t just leave that person until the ambulance arrives.”
He stated there have been usually delays ready for ambulances resulting from well being care staffing shortages.
Légèr launched the movement to council for the primary time on Monday night.
He’s hoping the bylaw will likely be adopted by July.
“I support (the motion) as long as the resources are put in place in that we can support it and do it right,” Landry stated.
“In the fairly near future, we’re going to need to explore our resources,” he added.
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
