Oct. 4-10 marks the fire prevention week in Saskatchewan and across Canada. This year fire departments are focusing on fire safety when it comes to cooking.
"This year's theme is Serve Up Fire Safety in the Kitchen," said Estevan Fire Chief Dale Feser.
"With the COVID coming around we didn't see a spike per se, nowhere near as bad as the other communities and other cities across Canada, but there are a lot of people staying at home and a lot of people cooking more in their kitchens."
Feser noted that while Estevan's numbers of cooking-related calls for fire department service were on par with the usual statistics, the situation across the country was different over the last half a year. Since many places in Canada saw an increase in the number of kitchen fires as well as preventable cooking-related false alarms, safety in the kitchen was chosen as the theme.
"It's always been a huge thing, that the fire departments have been trying to (communicate to the public) to never ever leave cooking unattended. It can get away on you really, really quick," Feser said.
During Fire Prevention Week, the Estevan Fire Rescue Service (EFRS) will focus on the main safety measures in the kitchen and will also provide some education as to how to properly put out a cooking-related fire.
"There are a lot of burns that occur when people unsuccessfully are trying to use water on oil or grease fires, which makes it actually quite a bit worse and can injure the individual," Feser added.
The EFRS members won't be out during Fire Prevention Week this year due to the COVID-19 precautionary measures. This means that there will be no conventional fire education and fire safety programs, and there will be no door-to-door smoke alarm campaign.
However, firefighters found another way to communicate their message to the community.
Throughout the week they are producing educational and informative videos that will be distributed through the Mercury and other local media as well as social media.
"We will do some videos that we will share and show people how to properly deal with stove-top fires or other fires of that nature," Feser said.
Local firefighters will come down and do demonstrations that will be recorded and then distributed for public education. Feser noted that public safety is the top priority, but unfortunately, the pandemic and the current situation don’t allow for the traditional community engagement.
"I think the entire fire service industry is finding themselves somewhat handcuffed from some traditional methods that we used during provincial Fire Prevention Week to get out there and engage the public. So we have to rely on our media sources," Feser said. "We hope to see a lot of shares to spread the message."
The topics the National Fire Protection Association focuses on during Fire Prevention Week is important all year round, and they hope to arm the public with sufficient tools to ensure that the number of cooking-related calls goes down.
The EFRS plans to release several videos during Fire Prevention Week. Follow the Mercury to see fire safety cooking tips and the latest updates from the fire department.
