The fire deaths of the four members of the Geoff Taber family in their cottage at Stoney Lake north of Peterborough early Christmas Eve morning may have been made more likely because smoke detectors were installed too low on the ground floor. The cottage had a high vaulted ceiling and open staircase which might tend to send smoke and flames up before it set off wall alarms on the first floor. It is a theory put forward by the Fire Marshall in the absence of any breakthrough on the cause of the inferno that took the lives of Taber, his wife Jacqueline Gardner and their sons Scott and Andrew. The fire appears to have originated in the living room but there is no cause determined. It can only be imagined the panic that overtook the family in the terrible circumstances as parents may well have done selfless things to save their sons. CBC
