Fire Prevention Week October 3 to 9, 2021

Carbon Monoxide poisoning is an all too common, yet preventable occurrence. The steps to reduce the risk of succumbing to the effects of CO in your home are quick and simple. Learn about Carbon Monoxide detectors, how to install them, how to use them, and what to do if it detects CO in your home by checking out this brochure.

Being safe and mitigating this risk of fires in your home can start with knowing about natural gas safety and propane safety. Learn about what to smell for, how to act if there is leak, and the steps you can take to keep your family safe from natural gas and propane by checking out these two brochures: Natural gas Safety, Propane Safety.

Because of synthetic materials, furniture, and construction, fire spreads faster than ever before. 40 years ago, it is reported that you had approximately 17 mins to escape from a fire in your home; but due to the highly flammable materials we live amongst, we have a mere 3 minutes to escape a fire in today’s home environment. One simple and quick measure we can all take to increase our safety in the event of a house fire is ‘close before you doze’ – close your bedroom door before you fall asleep at night. Research proves a closed door can mean the difference between 1,000 degrees and 100 degrees in the event of a fire. A closed door can also greatly reduce Carbon Monoxide levels in the event of a fire. Get all the facts and learn how closing your bedroom door at night can be invaluable source of safety in a fire by visiting this website.

It should be no surprise that cooking is one of the leading causes of house fires. However, it is entirely preventable with a few easy steps and precautions.

• Reduce the risk of cooking fires by being alert. You may not be fully alert if you are tired, drowsy or impaired by alcohol, cannabis, other drugs or certain medications.
• Stay in the kitchen when you are frying, grilling, or broiling food. If you leave the kitchen for even a short period of time, turn off the stove.
• If you are simmering, baking, roasting, or boiling food, check it regularly, remain in the home while food is cooking, and use a timer to remind you that you’re cooking.
• Keep things that can catch fire — potholders, oven mitts, paper or plastic bags, curtains — away from your stove top.
• Wear short, close-fitting or tightly rolled sleeves when cooking. Loose clothing can dangle onto stove burners and can catch fire if it comes in contact with a gas flame or electric burner.
• Have a “kid-free zone” of at least 1 metre around the stove and areas where hot food or drink is prepared or carried.
• Open microwaved food slowly, away from the face. Hot steam from a container of microwaved food or the food itself can cause burns.
• Never heat a baby bottle in a microwave oven because it heats liquids unevenly. Heat baby bottles in warm water.
• Treat a burn right away, putting it in cool water. Cool the burn for three to five minutes. Cover with a clean, dry cloth. If the burn is bigger than your fist, or if you have any questions, get medical help right away.

If you have a small grease or oven cooking fire:

• On the stove top, smother the flames by sliding a lid over the pan and turning off the burner. Leave the pan covered until it is completely cooled.
• Never pour water or use a fire extinguisher on a cooking pan grease fire!
• For an oven fire, turn off the heat and keep the door closed. After a fire, the oven should be checked and/or serviced before being used again.

If you have any doubt, get out!

• When you leave, close the door behind you to help contain the fire.
• Call 911 or your local emergency number from outside your home.

Halloween is such a great time of year to have some fun with your family. However, there are a lot of fire hazards that come along with the jack-o-lanterns, long synthetic costumes, trick or treating and haunted houses. Lucky for us, mitigating the risk of fires is quick and easy with just a few steps and considerations.

• Use a battery-operated candle or glow stick in jack-o-lanterns.
• When choosing costumes, stay away from long trailing fabric.
• Teach children to stay away from open flames, including jack-o-lanterns with candles in them.
• Dried flowers, cornstalks and crepe paper catch fire easily. Keep all decorations away from open flames and other heat sources like light bulbs and heaters
• Provide children with flashlights to carry for lighting or glow sticks as part of their costume. 

Remember to keep exits clear of decorations so nothing blocks escape routes. Make sure all smoke alarms are working.

Thanks for taking the time to check in every day for this year’s Fire Prevention Week to learn about way to keep you and your family safe. For this last day of the Fire Prevention Week, we wanted to simply remind you to take some time to learn what your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are telling you when they make beeps and chirps.

These alarms are easy to use and simple to install, but their function could be the difference between life and death in the case of an emergency, and knowing what listen for is paramount.

Here is a handy tip sheet that you can download to learn all the ins and outs of your smoke and CO alarms.

There are also smoke and Co alarms for hearing impaired and deaf people that use alarms other than sound to queue you if there is an emergency. Here is a great tip sheet that you can download to learn more about smoke and Co alarm systems for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.