Two smoke alarms installed under Red Deer Emergency Services’ free home safety program are credited with alerting six residents to a kitchen fire.
On May 30, Red Deer Emergency Services rushed to a home in Highland Green where a man had left oil heating on the stove.
He heard the smoke alarm installed just outside the kitchen and returned to find a fire on the stove top.
Just one week earlier, a crew did a safety check and found that the hardwired smoke alarms weren’t working.
They installed two battery-operated smoke alarms in the home.
The Emergency Services staff believe that without these working smoke alarms, there may have been a significant delay in the tenant detecting the fire.
That would have put him, his family and the property at risk for a serious fire, including reaching the flashover stage (where a room bursts into flame) or beyond.
Fire prevention officer Josh Mah said the damage to the home was confined to the stove, cabinets and range hood.
“We’re seeing results,” said Mah on Monday.
“This is just one example of when we could have possibly saved six lives. If we haven’t been called to a fire, we don’t know how many times smoke alarms or other checks have had an impact.”
The Home Safety program through Emergency Services was launched in the spring of 2005 with the intent to reduce fire and safety hazard in the home.
The program has crews going throughout the city from May to September.
Since 2005, 19,745 home safety checks have been done and 4,738 smoke alarms have been installed, as well as 1,124 batteries put into existing alarms. Last year, about 3,300 home safety checks were done.
ltester@www.reddeeradvocate.com