Fire Prevention Week is Oct 7-13, and the Orillia Fire Department has a kick-off event tomorrow(SAT 10 am-2 pm) that involves a number of demonstrations focused on this year's theme of “Look. Listen. Learn.”
Fire Prevention Officer Terry Duff says there will be a fire safety house, fire extinguisher training, a live burn, fire trucks and more.
He says it's important that parents join their children in the fire house to see what happens when there is a fire.
Duff says a person can't see their hand in front of their face, and that sort of effect will be created in the house with white smoke.
The fire department wants people to learn several things from the experience, in particular, that you need a home escape plan with two ways out of every room, to ensure children sleep with their bedroom door shut, and that there is a smoke alarm outside the room so there is an early warning.
Duff says smoke is a killer because it has carcinogens and carbon monoxide.
The live burn will involve two units that look like a typical room with a couch, a wall unit, drapes and pictures.
One unit will be equipped with a sprinkler system and the other with a basic smoke alarm.
Duff says the burn will show how a small fire starts and how quickly it grows, and how much time a person has to get out of their house with a smoke alarm and a sprinkler.
The fire department admits it would be nice to get building associations and developers to put sprinker systems in new homes they are building, even if it is just in high hazard areas like the kitchen and the laundry/furnace area.
Duff admits a sprinkler system is a fairly reasonable cost when a house is being built, not so much when it is already up.
Tomorrow's event is at the Home Depot on Monarch Drive from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
