Grand Falls-Windsor's fire chief would like residents to think about fire safety in this time of social distancing and quarantine.
Through a social media post, Vince MacKenzie implored people to check their smoke alarms weekly and conduct their own fire drills in an effort to stay emergency ready.
His reasoning is simple. As people are required to stay home in an attempt to prevent the further spread of COVID-19 in the province, families will be together in their home a lot more than usual.
MacKenzie would like people to be vigilant about this increased potential for a fire to occur.
“Living in our own home, we want to be safe and as safe as possible from everything, including fire,” he said. “As we spend more time in our homes, the risk is higher for fires due to behaviour, whether it is cooking or heating or those kinds of things.”
Practicing exiting the home in the event of a fire is something often overlooked by people. Children perform regular fire drills in school and adults will do so at their place of business from time to time so they’re prepared to respond calmly to a fire emergency. The same thinking should apply to home drills.
“I’m asking that we do fire drills, especially with young children because young children only remember what they’ve done and not what they’ve been told about meeting places and things,” said MacKenzie. “Even in emergencies, adults actually only remember what they’ve done in practice.”
Checking the battery life of smoke detectors is also important. They’re often the first indicator that something may be wrong and they should be located in every room in the home.
“We’re home more and (should) practice good fire safety,” said MacKenzie. “We’re also asking people to phone your neighbour. Check on your neighbour once in a while and make sure everyone is okay as we work through this situation together.”