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Prevention a hot topic
Fire chiefs attend public awareness training program

Jeanne Gagnon
Northern News Services
Published Monday, February 4, 2013

NUNAVUT
The importance of having an escape plan and a functioning smoke detector are some of the ideas reinforced at the Municipal Training Organization's inaugural fire prevention seminar in Iqaluit last week.

The organization hosted the event from Jan. 22 to 31. Twenty-one fire chiefs or fire educators from across the territory attended workshops on fire prevention, including a three-day national course on Juvenile Fire Setter Intervention. The course, the first time given in Canada, is a public awareness program, said Ed Zebedee, the director of protective services with the territorial government.

"It's not geared for kids that have been setting fires," he said. "It's geared for kids to prevent fires and for them to understand how serious fires can be."

One of the seminar's goals is to train firefighters from the communities to do fire prevention back home, to get the message out there on fire safety, said Zebedee.

"Our fire statistics in Nunavut are not very good lately. We must really start looking at prevention both from the fire department side but also as individuals," he said. "There is too much loss of property and life and we want to prevent that. We don't want any suffering families to lose people because of fire."

He added the GN feels it's more beneficial to train individuals from the communities because the residents know them and they can speak Inuktitut.

Norman Qauvik, a firefighter in Kugaaruk, was one of the participants. Fire prevention techniques and information on typical scenarios in which fires happen are some of the things he said he learned and will share with schools and the hamlet.

Pond Inlet Fire Chief Jollie Enoogoo had a similar message.

"It's very important, fire prevention, even when there is no big fires in other communities but we have to get ready before it happens," he said.

In 2011, 150 fires were reported across the territory, causing more than $53 million in damages. No one died as a result of the fires but 14 people were injured, according to the Office of the Fire Marshal's 2011 annual report.

RCMP Supt. Hilton Smee stated the police support any activity that will protect the lives of the citizens they serve.

"We believe the seminar is an excellent way to educate young people about the dangers of fire," he stated. "It is also important for us to work together with the fire service to get the message across to our communities ... That is why we are very pleased to participate in this pro-active approach to fire safety."

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