This past week was Fire Prevention Week, a week dedicated to teaching people around all of Canada the best ways to stop fires before they ever get started and it’s no different in the City of Terrace and the rest of Northwestern BC.
In a recent interview, Terrace Deputy Fire Chief Brad Owens mentioned that these weeks have more specific subjects that they focus on too, and for this year, lithium-ion batteries are being put under the spotlight;
“Every year, the National Fire Protection Association looks at the trends across the fire service and identifies current and emerging trends that cause structure fires. And this year, lithium-ion batteries have spiked in that trend area. So they’ve chosen to address that area of concern right now.”
Those kinds of batteries are featured in various common items like e-scooters, e-bikes and cell phones.
Although even with the specific yearly themes, Owen also pointed out that the Terrace Fire Department still has consistent points that they frequently bring up when talking about fire prevention;
“One of our big things that we always push and make sure that everyone’s aware of is smoke alarms. So make sure you’re replacing it when it needs to be replaced and make sure you have a functioning smoke alarm. We actually offer a smoke alarm program, so if you don’t have a working smoke alarm, we have free smoke alarms that we can hand out. We also do home inspections and you can contact the fire department to schedule an inspection at your home.”
Owens next listed off some of the places that people can go take a look at to discover more fire prevention tips;
“The OFC or Office of the Fire Commissioner has a web page, the BCPFFA, which is the British Columbia Professional Firefighters Association, also has some fire prevention information on their web page. The Fire Prevention Officers of BC have another web page and the National Fire Protection Association has a vast resource on their web page as well. And if you have any questions on specifics around fire prevention, you’re more than welcome to reach out to the City of Terrace Fire Department.”
Terrace has it’s FireSmart Program too, which exists mainly for the purpose of educating the public on fire related matters.