Fire Prevention

Be warm and safe this winter!

• Keep anything that can burn at least one meter away from heating equipment (furnace, boiler, wood/pellet stove, portable space heater)
• Have a one meter "kid-free zone" around open fires and space heaters
• Never use your oven to heat your home
• Have heating equipment installed by a qualified professional according to local codes and manufacturer's instructions
• Have heating equipment and chimneys cleaned and inspected every year by a qualified professional
• Turn portable heaters off when leaving the room or going to bed
• Ensure the fireplace has a sturdy screen to stop sparks from flying into the room
• Ashes from woodstoves/fireplaces/pellet stoves should be cool before putting them in a metal container.  Keep the container a safe distance away from your home.

Cooking Safety

Home Heating Safety: https://youtu.be/5BqR4WNd3lA

Plan ahead!  If fire breaks out in your home, you may have only a few minutes to get out safely once the smoke alarm sounds.  Everyone needs to know what to do and where to go if there is a fire.

Home Fire Escape Plan

Fire Escape Planning: https://youtu.be/2RumCPC4rSw

"Smoke alarms save lives".  You may have heard this a million times but do you know that your smoke alarms work as they are meant to?  Have you taken the time to ensure you and your family are protected?  Please take the time to do so now; here is what you need to know:

• Location: New homes will have the proper number of smoke alarms in the required locations.  If you live in an older home you may not have adequate smoke alarms:

                 - On every level of your home

                 - In the hall outside of the bedrooms

                 - The 2010 code requires smoke alarms in all the bedrooms

• Hard wired or battery-operated? All smoke alarms should be hard-wired; however, battery-operated smoke alarms will give the early warning if they are maintained.  The hard-wired smoke alarms should have a battery backup in case of power outage.
• Interconnection of Smoke Alarms - what does this mean?  When one smoke alarm is activated, it will activate all smoke alarms that are interconnected (battery-operated interconnected smoke alarms are available).  This is to ensure that if a smoke alarm detects smoke in a remote part of your home, you will hear the smoke alarm activation even when you are sleeping.  This will give you the needed time to escape.
• Smoke Alarm Maintenance: Test your smoke alarms once a month (by pushing the test button), change the battery once a year (or when it chirps), and change out your smoke alarms after its 10 year listed life span.

Smoke Alarms: https://youtu.be/gCMxwSrz5Go