Cornwall ON – The Cornwall Fire Department Deputy Chief urges everyone in the City of Cornwall to take a few minutes to make sure their smoke alarms are working in preparation for Fire Prevention Week, October 3-9, 2010.
“Too many people are complacent about fire safety,” said Deputy Chief Richard McCullough. “People need to remember* there is a one in ten chance of having a fire in their home. With all the plastic and synthetic materials we put in our homes today, fire burns hotter and faster than ever before. You may have just seconds to get everyone out of your home safely.”
The theme of this year’s Fire Prevention Week is Smoke Alarms: A Sound You Can Live With.
Working smoke alarms provide the early warning of fire so that people have those extra seconds needed to escape a fire emergency.
It’s the law in Ontario to have working smoke alarms on every storey of the home and outside all sleeping areas. Yet, all too often the fire service in Ontario responds to fires in homes with no working smoke alarms.
The Cornwall Fire Department will be on location at the Cornwall Square Monday to Thursday from 10 am to 9 pm and Friday from 10 am to 4 pm to raise public awareness about the importance of working smoke alarms.
* According to the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs’ survey
