The Madawaska Valley Fire Department will be picking its home safety inspections after Easter.
In January 86 homes were inspected, looking for working carbon monoxide detectors and smoke alarms.
Fire Chief Corwin Quade says only 16 of those homes inspected passed.
He says it’s clear residents aren’t taking fire safety seriously.
The fine for non-compliance is $300 as of 2017.
It costs the fire department thousands to respond to a call but only $20 to hand out a C-O detector and smoke alarm.
Quade says many residents don’t know it’s the law to have both an operating smoke alarm and C-O detector, hence why the fire department has been handing them out during inspections.
Despite the harsh fines for non-compliance Quade says not a single one had been handed out, but that could change given the high failure rate of homes in the area.