The Celebrate the True North pre-Canada Day celebration, hosted by the City of Estevan on June 29, was also an opportunity for the public to get a refresher on fire safety.
The Saskatchewan Association of Fire Chiefs brought its public education trailer to Estevan for the event. The trailer is based out of the Humboldt area, and was appearing in Estevan for the first time.
“It is a very well used item as far as public education goes, as it can actually train the whole family on what to do in the event of a fire,” said Estevan Fire Chief Dale Feser. “We can simulate about four different emergencies involving a fire within this particular trailer.”
The front portion of the trailer has a makeshift kitchen area that can simulate firee in a fireplace, a stovetop, an oven and a garbage can.
“We take everybody through the proper steps on how to handle the particular situations,” said Feser.
In the event of a stovetop fire, for example, people are instructed not to use water to extinguish the fire, as the water droplets will atomize, and create a larger fire risk.
If it’s safe to do so, people are encouraged to turn off the element to the stove and use a pot holder to slide the lid of the pot over top, which will reduce oxygen to the fire and hopefully extinguish it.
In the event of an oven fire, people want to turn off the oven, keep the oven door closed and keep the item in the oven.
“With all instances, you’re going to want to call 911 and alert emergency services,” said Feser.
Smoke props can be added to the simulations as well to add to the realism.
The back portion, meanwhile, is designed like a bedroom, and can simulate what to do if a fire breaks out while someone is sleeping.
“Ultimately, what we want them to do is roll out of bed, as opposed to sitting up in bed or standing up, as that puts them right in the smoke,” said Feser. “So we want to keep them low and we want to keep them out of the smoke and out of the heated environment.”
A smoke simulation machine will be fired up, so that they have a realistic training environment. People are asked to find their way out of the bedroom.
“This reinforces the ‘know two ways out’ (motto),” said Feser. “The first route that they’re going to try to do is obviously go for the door, and if the door is warm, that’s when they’re going to look for the secondary way out.”
The window is built into the back of the trailer with a ladder, so they can safely escape that environment. If the door is cold, then they can access the door.
Two televisions play a public safety education message on a DVD, featuring Pumbaa and Timon from the Disney movie The Lion King. It also reinforces the ideas of having two ways out of the home, staying outside once outdoors, and calling 911 in the event of an emergency. There were also safety messages.
“I think the kids really take to that really particular cartoon,” said Feser. “There’s a lot of them that were really glued to it, and probably watched the cartoon two or three times.”
People thought the trailer was great, he said. A lot of adults and children went through, and couldn’t believe how realistic of a training environment it was.
“It was a real learning opportunity for parents.”
Feser said the Saskatchewan Association of Fire Chiefs is looking to purchase more trailers, but they would need sponsors to step forward for that to happen. Eventually, they would like to have a trailer in each of the 10 zones in the province, meaning that the southeast would eventually have a trailer of its own. Sponsors would have their logos on the trailer.
Feser stressed each trailer costs a significant amount of money.
The fire chiefs want to get their safety messages out to the public, and have something that will stick with people of all ages. Other jurisdictions in North America have started this program, and have enjoyed great success.
And since it’s mobile, Feser said it can be taken to school or other areas with children, or it can be used for public education at community events.
