Mobile homes inspected for broken smoke alarms
Non-working or expired smoke alarms found in almost 40% of 99 mobile homes checked on Westside
Teams of paid-on-call firefighters and members of Mount Boucherie Secondary School’s junior firefighting program visited two Westside mobile home parks Saturday armed with smoke alarms and screwdrivers. It was the second of two days for West Kelowna Fire Rescue’s smoke alarm campaign, a joint project with Westbank First Nation.
“It’s a joint endeavour for community safety as a whole,” said Dan Heaton, law enforcement officer and emergency management co-ordinator with the Westbank First Nation.
For the past three years, the program, which runs during Fire Prevention Week, has targeted Westside mobile parks built before the 1980s, looking for homes without hard-wired smoke alarms.
According to Kelly Wilson, the fire and life safety educator with West Kelowna Fire Rescue, battery-powered smoke alarms are more prone to nuisance alarms, leading people to take the batteries out and forget about them.
“It’s an important project because we want to prevent fires, injury, property damage and fatalities,” said Wilson.
During this year’s campaign, close to 40 per cent of the 99 mobile homes inspected had non-working or expired alarms. Crews installed 107 alarms.
The new smoke alarms have a 10-year lithium battery that will last the life of the alarm. People just have to test them monthly by pressing a button.
Crews installed carbon monoxide and smoke alarm combinations for those needing an alarm in homes with a fireplace or gas appliances.
Ervina Baumgarten was home sewing when West Kelowna Fire Rescue knocked on the door of her mobile home to inspect her smoke alarm.
Upon inspection, the team discovered her smoke alarm was due to be replaced in 2017. They replaced the old alarm with a new one with a 10-year lithium battery.
“I’m very happy that they care enough,” said Baumgarten.
Smoke alarms and home escape plans go hand in hand, said Wilson, and West Kelowna Fire Rescue talked to residents about escape plans at every home visit.
This year’s theme for Fire Prevention Week is Every Second Counts.
“We want everybody to have a plan in their head for what they’re going to do if they wake up in the middle of the night and their alarm is going off,” said Wilson. “Those seconds matter, so they need to be out the door with their family at a meeting place somewhere safe.”
The importance of having a working smoke alarm and a home escape plan was apparent during a mobile home fire on the Westside last Halloween.
West Kelowna Fire Rescue had visited the homeowner just weeks before the fire as part of Fire Prevention Week, replaced her smoke alarm and discussed her plan to get out of her house if there was a fire.
“She said if it wasn’t for that plan in her head about which way she would get out, she probably wouldn’t have made it out of her home,” said Wilson.
Firefighters left a door hanger with contact information on units where nobody was home.
Any resident of West Kelowna or the Westbank First Nation can call West Kelowna Fire Rescue at 778-797-3200 to come out and test their smoke alarm and see if it is expired or needs replacing.
Both battery-operated and hardwired smoke alarms need to be replaced every 10 years.