This group of stacked townhouses happens to be in Centrepointe, but similar stacked units can be found throughout the city. The ground+lower level units have a balcony; the one-floor-up+third floor bedroom levels have both a real balcony off the living level, and a tiny one on the bedroom level above. The tiny one, I was once told, is required by the fire department, who must swoop in with their ladders to rescue people trapped  on the bedroom level of the burning upper units…

But those townhouses shown, just like the ones in downtown Ottawa on Gloucester at Lyon, also have an additional floor, a loft floor, above the top bedroom level. There is no balcony there. If there is a fire, are these loft dwellers so much burnt toast? How can we demand there be a refuge balcony for the third floor but not the fourth?