About 500 local students have pledged to probe the fire protection in their homes.
The Office of the Ontario Fire Marshal (OFM) along with Bradford West Gwillimbury Fire and Emergency Services hosted a fire prevention and education event for students from Kindergarten to Grade 5 at Fieldcrest Elementary School in Bradford on Sept. 25.
Ontario Fire Marshal Jon Pegg explained this year’s Saved by the Beep campaign is focusing on educating provincial youth.
“Young people often are the fire safety ambassadors in their homes,” he said.
In addition to providing the students with costume fire helmets, the event featured six different activity stations including: a pledge wall, smoke alarm education and demonstration, a trivia wheel with prizes, a firefighting-themed bean-bag toss, a photo booth and even a fire safety simulation trailer from the town’s fire department.
That last feature was a big hit with the kids, including Grade 5 students Laila McDoom and Hrihaan Vaidya, who enjoyed the uniquely Canadian maple aroma from the vapour used to simulate how smoke moves through a house.
McDoom said the most important thing she learned at the event wast to “check our smoke detectors to make sure they’re working.”
While Vaidya agreed, he also learned it’s helpful to “keep my door closed so the smoke gets in a little bit slower.”
The event comes ahead of the third annual Test Your Smoke Alarm Day on Sept. 28, and the OFM is urging all Ontarians to test the smoke alarms in their own homes that day and every month after.
Pegg explained the OFM initiated the event after a year of 133 “tragic fire deaths” in 2022 — the highest in two decades — to ensure everyone in Ontario knows that smoke alarms save lives.
“The number of people we’re losing to fire remains alarming high,” he said. “The fact remains the same: most of these deaths occur in homes with no working smoke alarms.”
Ontario recorded 112 fire deaths last year and has already seen 92 this year, according to the OFM.
Pegg said his office has partnered with TVO and Science North to help spread the word while also collaborating with the Ministry of Education to ensure teachers have fire safety resources in their classrooms.
He’s urging everyone in the province to take responsibility for their safety with the following steps:
- install smoke detectors on each floor of your home and outside sleeping areas
- test those today and once a month
- change the batteries once a year
- replace any detectors more than 10 years old
- make sure everyone in your home knows the fire escape plan
“Take action, because your life and the lives of your loved ones depend on it,” Pegg said.
That was echoed by town Deputy Fire Chief Steve Hall, who explained 94 per cent of the town’s buildings are residential, and of those 75 per cent are detached single family homes.
He explained the most effective way to ensure fire safety in those homes was to make sure they have working smoke detectors.
“We know and statistics prove smoke alarms save lives. In fact, Ontarians are twice as likely to die in a home fire if they don’t have a smoke alarm,” he said.
Hall reminded everyone that smoke detectors act as the first line of defence, providing “precious seconds” needed to escape an emergency.
Mayor James Leduc was joined by Ward 2 Coun. Jonathan Scott and Ward 4 Coun. Joseph Giordano to declare on behalf of council that Sept. 28 is Test Your Smoke Alarm Day in town.
The mayor said he was “thrilled” the community was chosen to host the event and noted the focus on children is “especially meaningful.”
“When kids learn about fire safety, they become powerful advocates at home, helping to protect their families and loved ones,” he said.
That was echoed by Principal Natalie Foster, who said she was “so proud” to have all the partners come together for the event at Fieldcrest and “very confident” the students would become ambassadors for fire safety.