SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Last year, the Yellowknife Fire Department answered 251 false alarms, totalling over 50 per cent of all fire calls.

Yellowknife fire department chief Albert Headrick is hoping a complete fire prevention and awareness campaign will bring that number down.

Fire chief Albert Headrick and Deputy Chief Gerda Groothuizen display miniatures of the fire prevention signs hung along Old Airport Road. - Lauren McKeon/NNSL photo

That's why he and two volunteers from local businesses began work at 3 a.m. Tuesday morning.

The results of their labour can be seen driving along Old Airport Road. The mini-volunteer group hung 26 banners, featuring 15 different messages pronouncing fire prevention safety. The banners were sponsored by 17 local businesses and cost between $350 and $400 each.

"We rolled them out like an assembly line," joked Headrick when asked how long it took to hang the banners.

The five by three-foot banners display such messages as "Love alone won't save your family, plan your escape" and "Test your smoke alarm, the silence might be deadly."

"It was a natural partnership," said Pat McCloskey, director of community and corporate affairs of Diavik, which sponsored two banners.

"We look for opportunities to support issues in town that have the ability to improve conditions over all for the community," he added, explaining the company's choice to support the campaign.

McCloskey also said that Diavik and the fire department share a common goal: prevent fires first, rather than having to put them out later.

It's important to make employees and the community aware of fire prevention strategies at work, at home and at play, he added.

While most false alarms, according to deputy fire chief Gerda Groothuizen, come from businesses and apartment buildings - everybody can benefit from the awareness campaign.

Usually when it comes to apartment buildings, the alarms are pulled by someone who is "in a mood," said Groothuizen, who also heads the life safety and prevention division.

"They're angry at someone and they take it out at the pull station."

Sometimes a similar thing can happen at businesses, but oftentimes the alarm pull can be unintentional, she added.

Both she and Headrick hope that the campaign will bring awareness to the community and encourage businesses and property owners to take the initiative to prevent false calls - and real fires.

Businesses will get extra encouragement from one potential bylaw, which, if passed, will come into effect in 2009.

The bylaw will make it possible for the fire department to charge businesses for their services if that business has more than three false calls.

The charge could be around $1,000, depending on circumstances, said Headrick.

"It adds up," Headrick said of the time, effort and labour put into answering false calls.