Fire Prevention Week

October 5, 2011

London’s Mayor to Teach School Children about Fire Safety in the Home

Mayor Joe Fontana and London Fire Department Officials will kick off Fire Prevention Week this coming Friday at the Children’s Safety Village of London Area in Fanshawe Park. Fire Prevention week will be held this year from the 9th through the 15th of October and the theme is “Protect Your Family From Fire”. The Fire Department has planned numerous events and displays throughout the city to educate Londoners about fire safety.

Mayor Fontana, who loves to cook, recognizes the importance of fire safety in the kitchen, and will be showing grade one students the many hazards that can exist there. The kitchen is where most home fires start and unattended cooking is the leading cause of fires in London and across the province of Ontario. “First, we must take the time to teach our children how to be safe. This is our number one priority – always – keeping our families out of harm’s way, but we must also illustrate what they can do in the event of an emergency and how to get help. A few minutes spent teaching a child about fire safety may ultimately save a life. I can’t think of anything worth more,” says Mayor Fontana. Rounding out the 5 most common fire causes are, careless use of candles, careless smoking, faulty or misused electrical equipment, and faulty or misused home heating equipment.

“Sadly, Londoners continue to suffer from the consequences of home fires, even though the vast majority of those fires are preventable”, says London Fire Chief John Kobarda. “Protecting your family from fire means developing fire safe practices, ensuring that your home is well protected by working smoke alarms and having a plan for escaping safely, but it’s also important that you test your alarms and practice the plan regularly with your family.”

Students attending the Children’s Safety Village learn fundamentals such as “get out and stay out”, “crawl low under smoke”, “have 2 ways out of every room”, “have a meeting place outside” and “stop, drop and roll” if your clothes are on fire. When accompanying the students, parents and guardians learn some valuable cooking and fire safety tips that can be applied at home.

What: Fire Prevention Week Kickoff
Where: Children’s Safety Village, 1424 Clarke Road
(Upper Thames River Conservation Authority property)
When: Friday, October 7th at 1 PM

For more information contact:
Public Information Officer Rick Jefferson
Office:  519-661-2500 ext 4622
Cell:  519-521-4501