Most fire deaths happen at home, and the two things that most reliably change the outcome are a working smoke alarm outside every sleeping area and a carbon monoxide alarm wherever there is a wood stove, furnace or other fuel-burning appliance. On reserve, Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) policy puts alarms in band-owned homes on the First Nation, expects private owners to look after their own, and asks council to set out by band council resolution how working alarms will be checked. A housing manager who owns that annual check is doing the single most useful piece of fire protection in the community.
This post sets out what the national codes say about smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) alarms, what ISC's fire protection policy expects of First Nations, how the money flows, and a checklist you can use this winter. It is general information, not legal advice: confirm the rules that apply to your community with your ISC regional office, your lands or technical services staff and your fire service provider.
How serious is the fire risk in First Nations homes?
The gap is large and well documented. ISC's First Nations Fire Protection Strategy, 2023 to 2028 states that nationally First Nations people are approximately 10 times more likely to die in a fire than non-First Nations people, citing a 2021 Statistics Canada study, and that Ontario First Nations children aged 0 to 9 were 86 times more likely than non-First Nations children to die in a fire, citing the Ontario Chief Coroner's 2019 table on fire deaths.
A 2024 Statistics Canada report, Circumstances surrounding fire-related deaths among Indigenous people in Canada, 2011 to 2020, prepared for the National Indigenous Fire Safety Council, adds detail that matters for housing staff. It cites recent research finding the fire death rate among First Nations people from 2011 to 2018 was five times higher than among non-Indigenous people. (The 10 times and five times figures come from different studies and periods; both point the same way.) The report also found that:
- Fire-related deaths were most common in the winter months, when heaters and wood-burning stoves are in heavy use and people spend more time indoors.
- Residential fires accounted for the majority of fire-related deaths.
- About 56% of Indigenous people who died in a residential fire lived in a house that needed major repairs, compared with 13% of non-Indigenous people.
- Indigenous people who died in a fire were more often in residential fires that killed two or more people (20%, compared with 7%).
- Where a source was recorded, cooking, electrical and heating devices (14%) were the most common sources of fatal fires among Indigenous people, followed by cigarettes (7%) and candles or other open flames (7%).
One caution on smoke alarm data: coroners recorded missing or non-working alarms in 12% of residential fire deaths among Indigenous people, but alarm information was not specified, unknown or not applicable in 80% of cases. The true share of homes without a working alarm at the time of a fatal fire is not known. Your own records of which homes have working alarms will tell you more about your community than any national figure.
What do the national codes require for smoke alarms?
The National Building Code of Canada 2020 (NBC) is a model code. Provinces and territories decide whether to adopt it, with or without changes, and the code itself tells builders to check which code applies where they are building. A 2025 edition has since been published, so ask your inspector or ISC regional office which edition your project is held to. For houses, the NBC 2020 (Part 9) requires:
- Smoke alarms conforming to CAN/ULC-S531 in each dwelling unit.
- At least one smoke alarm on each storey, including basements.
- On any storey with sleeping rooms, an alarm in each sleeping room and one between the sleeping rooms and the rest of the storey (in the hallway, if a hallway serves the bedrooms).
- Alarms on or near the ceiling, installed to CAN/ULC-S553.
- Permanent connection to an electrical circuit with no disconnect switch, plus a battery backup that can run the alarm for at least 7 days followed by 4 minutes of alarm. Battery-only alarms are permitted where the building has no electrical power.
- Where more than one alarm is required, interconnection so that any one alarm sets off every alarm in the home.
- A hush button that silences the alarm for no more than 10 minutes before it resets.
The National Fire Code of Canada 2020 (NFC) covers buildings already in use. It requires smoke alarms in each dwelling unit between the sleeping area and the rest of the home, permits them to be battery-operated, and requires smoke alarms to be inspected, tested and maintained to CAN/ULC-S552. In practice this means new homes should arrive with hard-wired, interconnected alarms in every bedroom, while older homes can be brought up to a safer standard with battery alarms that someone checks.
When does a home need a carbon monoxide alarm?
CO is a colourless, odourless gas, and the NBC notes that it can build up to lethal levels without anyone noticing. Under NBC 2020 Article 9.32.3.9, CO alarms are required in every building with a residential occupancy that also contains a fuel-burning appliance or a storage garage. In a home with a fuel-burning appliance, a CO alarm must be installed inside each bedroom or outside each bedroom within 5 m of the door. The alarms must conform to CSA 6.19, be mechanically fixed at the height the manufacturer recommends, and, in a room with a solid-fuel appliance such as a wood stove, be fixed at the height the manufacturer specifies for solid fuel or, without that instruction, on or near the ceiling.
The NFC requires CO alarms to be inspected, tested and maintained according to the manufacturer's instructions. Because wood, oil and propane heat are common in many communities, treat CO alarms as standard equipment, not an extra.
Who is responsible for alarms on reserve?
ISC's Level of Service Standards for Fire Protection Services, in effect since April 1, 2024, divides the work this way:
- The First Nation is expected to make sure working smoke alarms and smoke detectors are in all band-owned houses and community buildings, to support their use in other homes, and to set up programs and policies for regular annual smoke detector verification and replacement.
- Council should formalize, by band council resolution, how and when the First Nation monitors functioning smoke alarms. The standards also say chief and council should designate a person to make sure fire prevention and education are in place.
- Private home and business owners on reserve are responsible for fire prevention, including installing and maintaining smoke and CO detectors.
- Public buildings should have fire detection and alarm systems designed and maintained to the National Fire Code, and sprinkler systems designed to NFPA 13 and maintained to NFPA 25.
For new homes, the standards say they should be built with hard-wired smoke and CO alarms as per the National Building Code or the relevant provincial code, that battery-operated alarms should be installed and maintained in every existing home, and that communities should verify every year that there is a working smoke alarm in every home near every sleeping area, aiming for 100% compliance.
What does the First Nations Fire Protection Strategy ask communities to do?
The strategy was co-developed by the Assembly of First Nations and ISC. Several of its objectives land directly on housing departments:
- 3A: every on-reserve home has a working smoke and CO alarm in rooms as required by the applicable building code by 2025, with a maintenance replacement plan by 2026.
- 3B: First Nations without fire suppression through a fire department or a municipal type service agreement should adopt a national home fire sprinkler standard for all new homes, where water supply is adequate, by 2026.
- 3C: acquire fire insurance for band-owned homes and buildings by 2025.
- 4A: adopt national minimum building codes and a standardized inspection process for buildings not funded by ISC by 2026.
- 2B: appoint a local or regional fire emergency coordinator, fire chief or fire safety manager by 2024.
Several of these dates have passed or fall in 2026. If your community has not yet met them, they are still a useful work plan, and they line up with what ISC's funding tiers ask for.
How is fire protection on reserve funded?
According to ISC's fire protection page, band councils manage fire protection on reserve, and ISC provides annual funding through regional formulas that consider the number of buildings, remoteness and population. From 2016-2017 to 2024-2025 ISC spent an average of $54.6 million a year, including $14.4 million for capital such as trucks and halls, $16.1 million for operations and maintenance, $5.1 million for firefighter training, and $19 million in targeted funding. ISC provided $10 million in 2023-2024 that communities used for smoke alarms, fire extinguishers, fire safety assessments, education, training and inspections, and Budget 2024 added $20.9 million over three years from 2024-2025 to distribute alarms and extinguishers to homes and community facilities on reserve.
The Level of Service Standards uses three tiers. Tier 1 is prevention and education, and its minimum criterion is an established fire prevention and education program. Tier 2 requires a fire service assessment and a band council resolution. Tier 3 covers capital such as equipment and halls, and is only for communities that have met tiers 1 and 2. In ISC's examples, communities fund most tier 1 work from core capital allocations but can submit proposals through the First Nation Infrastructure Investment Plan to their ISC regional office for specific fire safety initiatives, including smoke alarm installation.
Wildfire is separate. ISC's FireSmart funding stream supports wildland fire preparedness and mitigation on reserve, such as risk assessments, evacuation plan updates and vegetation management. The page describes a 2025 to 2026 intake, so check with your regional emergency management contact for the current one. For housing capital programs in general, see our funding guide for First Nations buildings. Herauf does not administer funding or apply on a community's behalf.
A fire safety checklist for housing managers
- Build an alarm register. For every unit, record the number, type (smoke, CO, combination), power source, install date and expiry of each alarm, and the heating fuel used.
- Check every home once a year, and record it. ISC expects annual verification of working alarms near every sleeping area. Time it before the heating season, since deaths peak in winter.
- Fix the gaps first where risk is highest: homes with wood stoves or fuel-fired heat and no CO alarm, homes needing major repairs, crowded homes and homes with young children or Elders.
- Replace on schedule. Keep spare alarms and batteries in stock so a failed alarm is swapped during the visit, not on a work order weeks later.
- Ask council for the resolution. A band council resolution that sets out how and when alarms are monitored, and who does it, meets an ISC tier 1 expectation and makes clear who does the checking.
- Name a fire safety lead, or share a regional coordinator, as the strategy recommends.
- Teach occupants. Show each household how to test and hush its alarms, plan two ways out of every bedroom, and keep hallways and exits clear.
- Spec new homes properly. Require hard-wired, interconnected smoke alarms on every storey and in every bedroom, CO alarms wherever there is a fuel-burning appliance, and drawings that show alarm locations. Where there is no fire department or service agreement and water supply is adequate, discuss home sprinklers.
- Report fires. ISC asks for fire incidents to be recorded on the E-ACRS fire protection questionnaire. Communities that track fires are better able to show what funding they need.
- Confirm insurance on band-owned homes and buildings.
Where does a builder fit in?
A new home is the easiest time to get fire safety right, because hard-wired, interconnected alarms can be planned into the design rather than retrofitted. Herauf Modular builds homes and community buildings as finished sections indoors in its Saskatchewan and BC plants, then delivers and sets them on site. Every unit meets or exceeds CSA A277 and the National Building Code for climate zones 6 through 8, and most builds are manufactured and delivered in about 16 weeks while foundations, pads and services are prepared on site. Whichever builder you use, ask to see the alarm layout on the drawings before construction starts. For more on how factory-built homes reach communities, see modular Indigenous housing.
If you are planning new homes or a community building, send us an enquiry. Herauf replies within one business day.
This guide is general information, not legal or financial advice. Program rules change: confirm the details with the program, your Indigenous Services Canada regional office or CMHC before relying on them. Herauf does not administer any program or apply on a community's behalf.