Dawn Ostrem
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 11/00) - Most of Yellowknife's fires don't involve seniors but they are a sector of the population most vulnerable to them.

Mike Lowing, deputy fire chief of the Yellowknife Fire Department, said three groups are considered high-risk: children, those who are intoxicated, and seniors.

Fact File: Seniors are vulnerable to fires because of: reduced mobility medication medical conditions poor eyesight and hearing

"The key emphasis for them is that they can't respond to fires as fast so you have to look at their needs specifically," Lowing said.

The Yellowknife Fire Department is known among other city emergency organizations, such as the RCMP,. as an extremely proactive department.

Seniors such as Chloe Buell appreciate the training and support the department provides.

"Mike Lowing was very good and very patient and explained things very well to us," she said.

"I didn't know how to use the fire extinguisher that hangs in our house and we must know these things because most of us live by ourselves."

The fire department volunteers to do safety inspections of senior's houses and have conducted training courses for them.

Last summer, a fire extinguisher course for seniors was presented for the first time. Other courses have included smoke detector maintenance and fire escape planning.

"When a senior is aware of how to respond to situations there's obviously less of a chance of them getting hurt," said Martha MacLellan in support of the sessions.

She is the managing director of the Yellowknife Senior's Society.

Smoke detectors, Lowing stresses again, are the most important element of fire safety for everybody and especially seniors since some are hard of hearing. They reduce the chance of death or injury by half.

Fires involving seniors are prevalent in the kitchen, forgetfulness playing a key role.

"We don't usually have major fires but it's more something like a pot of soup on the stove that burns," Lowing said.

He suggests wearing oven mitts while cooking and not taking them off until finished so seniors remember the stove is still on.

Loose clothing also plays a role when cooking or brushing up against candles, for example.

When a fire does happen, regardless how small, seniors are in a high level of danger.

"When we have nursing home fires we tend to have high fatality rates because seniors are not good in smoke," Lowing warned.