Calgary firefighters encourage public to be prepared as Fire Prevention Week ends

As the Calgary Fire Department’s (CFD) Fire Prevention Week wrapped up on Saturday, the Saddleridge Fire Station in northeast Calgary hammered home a message of safety.

Crews spoke of the importance of being prepared by looking, listening and learning. Look for potential spots where fires can start around the house. Listen to your smoke alarm and have one on each level of your home. More than one-third of all fire fatalities are associated with having no smoke alarm, according to the Calgary Fire Department (CFD). Learn different escape routes out of your house in the event of an emergency, draw a map of those routes and rehearse the plan as part of a fire drill.

Most indoor fires in Calgary happen in the kitchen with an average of 1.2 cooking fires occurring every day in the city, according to CFD.

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Todd Berry, CFD community safety officer, reminded people to properly dispose of smoking materials, since these contribute to fire hazards. He added that smoke alarms have an expiry date and a 10-year lifespan.

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“Check your smoke alarms,” he said. “Make sure your batteries have been changed; you want to change them once a year.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Check your smoke alarms," he said. "Make sure your batteries have been changed; you want to change them once a year."

Fire moves very quickly: you could have less than two minutes to get out after a smoke alarm rings, according to the National Fire Prevention Association.