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LETTER: Installing your own smoke alarm is easier than suing landlord

If a tenant is smart enough to buy a fire extinguisher, you would think he/she would be smart enough to buy a smoke detector to go with it.
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Surrey firefighters fight a duplex fire.

The Editor,

Re: “Delta tenants burned out in fire lose second court case,” the Now, June 16.

If a tenant is smart enough to buy a fire extinguisher, you would think he/she would be smart enough to buy a smoke detector to go with it. Smoke detectors, gas detectors, or a combination of the two together could be purchased for about $20 to $40 at most hardware or drug stores, are self-contained, run on a nine-volt battery, and are easy to install.

SEE ALSO: Delta tenants burned out in fire lose second round in court against landlord who didn't install smoke alarms

OUR VIEW: Where there's smoke, there's confusion

It would be a whole lot cheaper than suing the landlord who refuses to install the device, even though it would be in his/her own best interest to do so.

Most fires do not start on their own. They start due to someone’s negligence – like dozing off while smoking, dropping ashes between the sofa cushions or leaving some appliance turned on.

Fred Perry, Surrey