An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
It’s a motto that Cochrane Fire Services takes to heart, evident in their 100-plus public engagement events throughout the year.
One of the biggest take-home pieces that Lt. Jeff Avery, fire safety codes and public engagement officer, wants parents to focus on is having a plan in the event of a fire or emergency.
“All the family should be on the same page and have a home evacuation plan,” he said, adding that this plan should be made available to any other childcare providers in the home.
Avery said he is always impressed with how teachable youth continue to be and how when made fun, safety becomes ingrained in children at young ages.
While Avery spends much of his day teaching kids how to stop, drop and roll and how to identify an emergency with the hopes that they will grow up to exemplify fire safety as adults – he still chalks up much of what the department responds to as “honest mistakes.”
Like grass fires.
“People need to be extremely careful – it’s really dry … even with this little bit of moisture we’ve had and everything greening up, there’s still dead grass out there,” said Avery, naming one of the biggest culprits of grassfires: burning of yard and construction waste in backyard firepits.
“There’s no need – especially with the green bins now and the Eco Centre in town,” he said, adding the reminder that backyard pits must have screens, be nine feet from fences or houses and only clean wood should be burned – not toxic, treated materials.
Other usual suspects for grassfires include cigarette butts, which mistakenly get stubbed out in flower beds containing flammable materials such as peat moss and fertilizer, or thrown out car windows.
Combined with frequent gusts of wind, fires have an ability to spread quickly and cause extensive, devastating damage in their wake.
Cochrane Fire Services will have a booth at this weekend’s Cochrane Trade Show at the Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre, giving out free fire safety tips and smoke detectors to passersby.
Stair Climb
Four members of Cochrane Fire Services wrapped up several months of intensive training this week in preparation for the third annual Firefighter Stairclimb Challenge.
The fundraiser for Wellspring Calgary – which provides support for people living with cancer and their families – will be held once again at the Bow building in Calgary on May 7.
The grueling climb will see roughly 500 dedicated firefighters from across North America suiting up with around 55 pounds of gear to climb 1,204 steps (54 flights).
Firefighters Chris Chyka, Dave Levisky and Brad Hoey will join Lt. Derek Orr from the Cochrane fire department for the limits-testing climb.
“It’s been a long few months,” said a tired Chyka, after finishing up the last practice run at the Bow building on Tuesday. “Every year the event seems to be getting better.”
Chyka and his teammates have raised nearly $2500 and are grateful for last minute donations to top up their pledge to fight cancer this weekend.
To learn more visit http://give.wellspringcalgary.ca and look up any team member to donate to the cause.
