October 22, 2013 - 2:07 PM
In 2012 the City of Vernon experienced 2.3 fires per 1,000 persons, well above the provincial average of 1.5 fires per 1,000 persons!
“Of the fires our department attended last year, Vernon was very fortunate that none of them resulted in a residential fatality!” said Deputy Fire Chief, Lawrie Skolrood.
“And where smoke alarms have been installed and are operating,” he said, “the risk of serious injury or death has proven to be greatly reduced!”
That’s why Vernon Fire Rescue Services partnered with Silver Star Rotary, Johnston Meier Insurance and Okanagan Restoration is currently conducting a campaign to test and to install smoke alarms in homes throughout the City of Vernon.
“Our motto is We Won’t Rest Until You Install and Test,” said the Deputy Chief. In fact we’ll be at the Okanagan Terrace Mobile Home Park on November 2, 2013, testing and installing alarms between 10:00 am and 2:00pm!.”
All new homes built in BC are required to have smoke alarms with battery backup wired into the house electrical system to get around the problem of inoperative alarms due to dead batteries.
“In the meantime,” said Skolrood, “the best insurance against a dead battery is to install fresh batteries in all your smoke alarms every spring and fall when you change your clocks. It’s cheap insurance and might save a life someday!"
News from © iNFOnews, 2013