(Undated)– This week marks the observance of Fire Prevention Week. Arnolds Park-Okoboji Fire Chief Chris Yungbluth says the theme this year is “Not Every Hero Wears A Cape”…
“And it’s talking about planning and practicing your escape from houses, so. You know the theme not every hero wears a cape basically means that you can be your own hero to get out and you and your family making a plan is actually part of being a hero and getting out of or escaping a fire if it happens to happen in your house.”
Yungbluth says this week is also a good time to check and test your smoke detectors…
“Now a lot of them have the 10 year batteries in them which helps a lot for trying to remember to replace the batteries, but you should check the date on those. You hopefully a date listed as to when it was installed so you know when you need to get that detector replaced, or if you still have the other style where you should be replacing them frequently this is a good time or a good reminder not only the time changes, or Fire Prevention Week, both are coming up pretty soon here, are a good time to make sure and change those batteries out. And then test them. If you haven’t tested your detector for awhile, and I know you’re supposed to test them monthly, I know realistically people probably don’t get to that, but this would be a good time to test them and make sure that they’re working.”
Yungbluth adds that’s also the case with carbon monoxide detectors, especially since many of us are firing up those furnaces for the first time of the season. He says that hits especially close to home for him and his family…
“I had a problem with my furnace and the detector went off, luckily before the CO got too high in my house and we were able to address the problem and have no harm come to any of my family just because I had that CO detector in the house. And we’ve been responding to a few different calls where houses are just sealed up so much better that once a heating system doesn’t work quite right or quite the way it’s supposed to, the CO can build up pretty fast and a simple another detector in your house, a CO detector can make a big difference and actually save your life.”
When it comes to devising an emergency escape plan, Yungbluth says area fire departments can help home and business owners out with those.
