It’s Fire Prevention Week and the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service (WFPS) wants to warn residents not to get too complacent — fires can affect all of us.
According to the National Fire Protection Association, unattended cooking is the number one cause of cooking fire deaths, and Winnipeg firefighters say being safe while in the kitchen is one of the messages they want to send.
“People might think it can’t happen to them … but this year’s theme for Fire Prevention Week is ‘Cooking safety starts with you,’ and cooking safety is a theme that applies to everybody,” said Lisa Gilmour, assistant chief, community risk reduction.
“Everybody’s making food, everybody has a kitchen, has some sort of heating device.”
The Manitoba Office of the Fire Commissioner also urges you to check your kitchen for fire hazards and practise safe cooking.
Another important factor when it comes to fire safety in the home: an escape plan. It’s something WPFS’ Doug Sinclair told Global Winnipeg is often overlooked by adults.
“Kids in schools practise their escape plans 10 times a year, and I don’t think we practise them enough in the home,” Sinclair said.
“Escape plans include having two ways out of every room, and something that’s really important is having a smoke alarm.
“So we want to have it up high, we want to have it outside the sleeping area, and one on every floor, and we want to test that every month.”
Sinclair said crews show up on the scene of the fire and go room by room to find any people who are unable to escape a burning building beforehand.
All City of Winnipeg fire stations are hosting open house events Oct. 14. More details on Fire Prevention Week are available on the province’s website.
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