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DEH CHO
Residents across the Deh Cho are encouraged to dust off their fire escape plans and test their smoke detectors in recognition of Fire Prevention Week.

The Fort Simpson fire department is celebrating its 50 anniversary this year. Currently the department has 16 volunteers and three auxiliary members. Pictured here is Fire Chief Roger Pilling, left, Pat Rowe, Scott Cameron, Michael Blyth, Aaron Donahue, Pam Fitzroy, Calvin Spencer, Michael Rowe, Travis Wright, Justin Byatt, Shelagh Byatt, Caitlin Jaffray, Brian Jaffray, Lionel Nadia, Lee Scobie, Dave Magarey and Brian Pearce. - photo courtesy of the Fort Simpson fire department

The theme this year is to always have two ways out of a building. Fort Simpson Fire Chief Roger Pilling said residents should be thinking about the theme when creating their fire escape plans. Families should also pick a meeting place that is a safe distance from their house and is easily identifiable, he added.

"If everybody just runs out of the house you don't really know if everyone is accounted for, so you want to make sure that you have a good meeting place," Pilling said, adding residents should be practising their plans at least a couple times a year if not once a month. "You can do it during a commercial, like in the middle of the hockey game or something ... It only takes about a minute to practice it and it could save someone's life."

In Fort Simpson, the volunteer fire department, which currently has about 16 volunteers and three auxiliary members, responds to about one fire a month, according to Pilling.

The most common cause of fires, he said, is people leaving their stoves unattended. Also, Pilling said calls to the department usually become more prevalent in the colder months when people are using heating devices more.

Meanwhile, in Fort Providence, Fire Chief Andy Sapp said the number one cause of fires in the hamlet is unattended wood stoves. This year, Sapp's department, which has about 12 volunteers, has handled six fires.

In the event that a person's house catches fire and they can't get out, Pilling suggested residents seal the area they're in by putting clothes under the doors.

"If the house is on fire and you try to run through it you aren't going to get very far," he said. "Try to get somebody's attention so they know you're there."

Pilling also wants residents to forget about a piece of advice many were taught when they were young.

"They always used to teach about feeling the door or touching the door knob to see if it's hot. But a door can be totally engulfed on the other side and it will only change by a few degrees. It's not measurable by the human hand. That's what we anti-teach. Don't just feel the door," he said. "You have to stand off to the side, put your hand up as high as you can and just crack the door ever so slightly and you'll feel if there is heat there."

Fort Liard Fire Chief Robert Firth said if people take only one thing away from Fire Prevention Week it should be an understanding of the importance of having one or two smoke detectors in the home.

"When I've gone to visit them or check (smoke detectors) they're disconnected or they're covered over with plastic, which makes them ineffective, or they're dead," Firth said, adding it can be the difference between life and death.

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