2015-08-18 Fire Commissioner questioned by member

 

  • A member has been trying to elicit information about the fire situation, why so many regulations are being thwarted and why there seems to be no sense of urgency from any of those whose job it is to protect us. Below, in letters, is the response from the Fire Commissioner’s Office to some pretty basic questions, which are answered will canned responses. One statement jumps out – that they do not have the expertise to inspect electrical fires. According to the FC they advise the BC Safety Authority who are expert in this. I have many fire reports like the one attached saying the fire was electrical in nature, yet the BCSA told me in the attached FOI request that they have no report. This is a school fire. Fortunately it happened when no children were present, but that was pure luck. I have asked the member to follow up with this information, as an example of the failure in the system.  One report says there had been some outages prior to the fire and some electrical delivery equipment had been changed. Was it a smart meter?? We don’t know and I cannot find out. Hydro is using the Freedom of Information Act to refuse to provide information.

https://stopsmartmetersbc.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/FOI-2014-202-Sharon-Noble-Acknowledgement-and-Final-Letter-1.pdf

https://stopsmartmetersbc.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Response-Records-1.pdf

 

I hope you will consider pursuing this member’s approach. We deserve to know why smart meters are being removed from the scene of fires prior to inspection. And why is the BC Safety Authority not called to inspect electrical fires? The Commissioner can say statistics do not indicate smart meters cause fires because he isn’t getting that info. and neither is he keeping any if he does get it. He is mouthing the information the government wants him to say.

 

 

  • A member suggests that the government might have some conflicts of interest allowing people to know the dangers associated with wireless devices. I don’t know the dollar figure, but my guess is that there is more ‘investment’ involved than this.

4876vstu

 

 

  • Utilities like HydroBC and FortisBC are in a death spiral – spending huge amounts on projects that are not needed now and most likely will not be needed in the future – increasing rates that drive more people to go off grid:

 “The financial stakes are big. Between 2010 and 2030, the grid will require an estimated $2 trillion in investment, or about $100 billion per year. Even if only a fraction of customers for whom solar-plus-battery systems would make economic sense actually invest in them, that would still represent a sizable chunk of revenue the grid and utilities were counting on.

“There’s a real danger of central generation investing in increased capacity at the same time customers are making these distributed investments,” said Mandel. “The end result would be way too much capital on both sides of the meter.”

All of these pressures move in the direction of the so-called “utility death spiral,” a scenario where utilities, faced with fixed costs, must raise rates on dwindling numbers of grid-reliant customers, driving more of them away, needing to raise rates still higher to break even, and so on.”

http://www.greenbiz.com/article/how-close-are-we-peak-electricity-prices

 

  • The number of groups resisting the “grid” is increasing, and we must join together to fight for our safety and security. The problems include the following (but what about the “unreported fires”, of which there are many?)

-6  Tom Lawton from TESCO on Smart Meters: “the number of reported fires in the United States has increased dramatically to the point where [Smart] Meter fires have dominated the news locally, nationally and internationally at various times in the past three years. Utilities going through a full deployment are seeing incident rates one and two orders of magnitude greater than normal, leading to a media frenzy and a public focus on the safety of the [Smart] Meter on the side of their house.”

– 7 Norman Lambe (LA Home and Business Insurance Examiner) writes, “The real problems concerning the installation of 51 million Smart Meters in this country are being ignored, in spite of the evidence that we have a clear and present danger.  When the electrical utility determines that a Smart Meter is the issue, they have been removing the meter. [That means] tampering with evidence concerning the cause of the fire. However, the real issue as to why all the [Smart] Meters are failing is not being dealt with.

http://blog.heartland.org/2015/08/are-smart-meters-an-ill-conceived-policy-decision/

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Letters:

From: “Gordon A JAG Anderson:EX” <Gordon.A.Anderson@gov.bc.ca>
To: X
Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2015 12:07:31 PM
Subject: Response to questions

Hello

 Although you have not indicated who you have sent your email to, I have provided you answers to the questions that fall within the jurisdiction of the Fire Commissioners office (OFC).  These responses are shown in red text within your email below.

Gordon Anderson CFO, MIFireE
Fire Commissioner
Province of British Columbia
Block A – Suite 200
2261 Keating Cross Road
Victoria BC V8M 2A5 CANADA
Phone 250.952.5048   Fax 250.952.4888

From: X
Sent: Tuesday, August 4, 2015 07:47
Subject: Private BC Citizen asking for Assistance – With Questions Asked and Observations Made

 Private BC Citizen asking for Assistance – With Questions Asked and Observations Made

 

Dated: August 4th, 2015

Things I have learned, the BC smart meters are being removed from homes before inspection can occur, after fires originating at the smart meter location are suspect. In a perfect world this should be against insurance law. In fact, I’ve learned the BC Safety Authority has responsibility for enforcing these type of laws, but has been told it can’t do so, as far as the B.C. smart meters are concerned.

Q: Why?
The OFC has no jurisdiction over how BC Safety Authority conducts its business, however I can tell you that the legislative authority regarding smart meters comes from the Clean Energy Act to 17(5) here is the link http://www.bclaws.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/10022_01#section17
I have also learned the BCUC has been told within the Clean Energy Act to stay out of the program, and again Q: Why?
This is not within OFC jurisdiction, you may need to speak with BC Hydro directly for this answer

We are talking about the safety of human lives and the liabilities regarding injury and/or the loss of life, if protective measures are not in place and safeguarded.

Q: Does this potential for personal injury and/or the potential for loss of life, have to go any further before something is done?
OFC statistics do not indicate evidence of smart meters being a higher level of fire risk to occupants than any other household electrical device.

I have learned that insurers are likely to remain silent because they are being reimbursed for the claims by BC Hydro. Therefore BC Hydro is essentially spending taxpayers money to pay for damages their equipment has caused. Unfortunate as it is, I’ve also learned they have steadfastly refused to tell us how much of BC taxpayers money is being spent paying out these smart meter claims for damages, and/or admit the liability. Common sense says, someone is paying for the claims, a.k.a. the damages.

Apparently the strategy is, to continually refuse to answer directly, one way or the other.

Q: Why?
The OFC has no information regarding insurance claim reimbursements by BC Hydro, you will need to contact BC Hydro directly.

Technical abnormalities within the Saskatchewan smart meters resulted in many fires in homes throughout, and saw a province wide order to remove them. This was broadcast within the national news, and carried widely in many newspapers.

Example: is BC Hydro hiding the fact that they may? have bought a defective device, either knowing it was dangerous or not knowing because they didn’t do their job by researching it, thoroughly. Government bodies are making millions, possibly? billions of dollars off these smart meters and will continue to do so – as newer technologies want to share the wireless smart meters remote access abilities via the zig-bee chip.

Does the Insurance Bureau of Canada or BC Hydro and countless other governmental and corporate bodies involved within the chain, care if a few homes burn or possibly a few lives lost? I certainly hope not, because if this goes that far? it’ll make whats happening with the current review of our Canadian senators – look like small potatoes. Q: Are possibly? the uninformed being used as pawns in this instance and being kept unaware of the safety issues? Is this the chance “they” that sell the smart meters and “they” that installed the smart meters and “they” that have collectively approved both the sale and installation, are willing to take to make money. I have come to believe through intense investigation of facts ongoing and the research done, that there seems? like effective collusion between the entities involved. Q: & A: hasn’t produced definitive answers, but has instead resulted in non-affirmative answers, meaning that some are directed to other bureaucratic departments that have (often) lead around in circles that cause much time to be spent, a.k.a. “the strategy employed” or seemingly? the strategy employed.

These results after time and effort spent, ultimately – have led to more non-affirmative and/or direct answers given. It’s been a cat and mouse chase with all the effort and time that’s spent. Unfortunately, this leaves the unaware and uninformed persons within B.C. at potential risk for personal injury and/or loss of life, re: B.C. smart meter fires that have occurred within B.C.
OFC statistics do not indicate evidence of smart meters being a higher level of fire risk to occupants that any other household electrical device.

I have recently learned that these smart meter fires are facts, within B.C. and that they can be substantiated with quality search engine phrases that produce some posted video evidence of examples and the countless testimonies.

In ending, you simply can’t replace a life with a paid out claim for potential damages, is my point. My observations based on the available qualified facts learned, and my first 4 questions and those that have followed them, are reasonable questions to be asked by any concerned and informed citizen within B.C.

I am one such concerned B.C. citizen, asking them. I would also appreciate some qualified feedback that may ease with these observations that I have learned, thus far.

Last Q: this goes back to and refers to my 2nd question, Does this really have to go any further before something is done? meaning the potential for personal injury and/or the loss of life in B.C. How about the powers that be within the corporate, private and governmental bodies, simply do away with this nonsensical iron curtain? Is this situation not in everyone’s interest that human safety be safeguarded? Can’t we possibly allow for open transparency within this instance.

Why not take away the shroud and allow B.C. citizens to straight out and publicly be given an answer, as to why? our B.C. fire inspectors are not allowed to physically inspect a B.C. smart meter at location, after a fire was determined to have originated in that area – the suspect target area.
B.C. Fire Inspectors are not experts in examining electrical devices. B.C. fire inspectors are advised by the OFC to notify the BC Safety Authority of any suspected electrical caused fire. If a B.C. fire inspector was to handle the electrical device this could impact the evidence that the BC Safety Authority, Electrical Safety Program inspector needs to collect themselves in order to investigate electrical fires and find a cause.

In my opinion the above, is some terrible legislation, to enforce in B.C. Obviously Saskatchewan did not have this policy in place when it was determined the technology employed in their smart meters, had failed Saskatchewan. Those smart meters were causing fires, and the province ordered them removed.

As a private B.C. citizen learning these acquired facts, I am only just getting started with these reasonable concerns and respectfully, the questions that I have put forward for resolve.

Why? Because I don’t want to be reading in tomorrows headlines that a B.C. resident or residents have experienced fire related injuries and/or the loss of life accredited to the fault of our B.C. smart meters. That would be terrible, to say the least. I am making this a primary concern with asking for assistance in answering these reasonable questions, and commenting on the observations that I have put forward.

Anyone care? I’d certainly love to hear back from someone that does.

X

******************************************

Sharon

 “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”  Martin Luther King, Jr.

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