PRESS RELEASE

Aug. 21, 2012

COALITION TO STOP SMART METERS
QUESTIONS FIRE CHIEF'S REPORT ON SMART METER SAFETY.

In mid-August, Surrey Fire Chief Len Garis and Dr. Joseph Clare, strategic planning analyst for the Surrey Fire Service, released a 7 page report substantiating BC Hydro's claim that smart meters do not pose a fire hazard. This report was commissioned by BC Hydro. It was written to address a rash of suspicious fires reported all over the province, most recently in Nanaimo, Port Alberni, Comox, Mission, Coquitlam and Sparwood. These fires occurred shortly after smart meters had been installed.

The authors of the report claim statistics from the Provincial Fire Commissioner's office support their conclusion that there is no fire hazard. Sharon Noble, Director of the Coalition to Stop Smart Meters, questions the accuracy of this claim.

"The Fire Commissioner's office is not able to track smart meter caused fires because there is no code for smart meters." Noble received an email from The Fire Reporting Systems Officer, Emergency Management British Columbia, saying "there is not an applicable fire code to attach to a smart meter related fire."

In April, the Coalition circulated a study to every fire chief summarizing fires reported all over the US associated with smart meters. Reports in every jurisdiction identified 2 consistent factors contributing to these fires, both of which exist in BC:

1) Meters are being installed by inexperienced, unqualified persons after having received only 10 days of training. Normally only certified electricians work on electrical meters.

2) According to a number of electrical experts, the meters themselves are inherently dangerous. Components of Smart Meters trip Ground Fault Interrupters and Arc Fault Interrupters, creating a fire hazard. Also, typical home wiring (60 Hz) is not constructed or intended to carry high frequency surges that smart meters produce to signal the usage data to Hydro.

The Coalition calls for a moratorium on installations until there is an independent investigation of the smart meters, one done by experts in electrical engineering who have no affiliation with any agency or company that benefit from this program.

www.stopsmartmetersbc.ca