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Calgary rooming house owner gets maximum fine for fatal fire

Oct. 16, 2013, Calgary – The owner of a Calgary rooming house where a fire killed a tenant has received the maximum penalty for not following safety rules.

A Court of Queen's Bench judge fined Annop Bungay $105,000 for violating the Alberta Fire Code.

Smoke alarms were not installed or maintained in each bedroom, fire extinguishers were not available on each level and there was no interconnected smoke-alarm system.

Bungay pleaded guilty earlier this month to seven violations, while charges against a second owner were withdrawn.

Daniel McWha, who was 57, was pulled from an upstairs bedroom in the rooming house during a fire in September 2012 and died in hospital from smoke inhalation.

Fire crews rescued three other people.

Last week, the owner of the Shamrock Hotel in Calgary was found in violation of two fire codes after a blaze in August 2012 and was fined $30,000.