When it comes to cooking, candles and cigarettes, the message is simple — but it’s important enough that Vancouver Fire Department members are personally delivering it to hundreds of households in four languages.
The department’s noncombat volunteer force, the Fire Corps, is going door to door in the East Fourth Plain Boulevard area this summer to spread the word about preventing fires in the home. Over the last eight years, about 260 fires in the city were caused by pans left unattended on stoves, candles igniting items nearby and cigarettes extinguished in receptacles other than ashtrays, city Fire Marshal Heidi Scarpelli said.
“These are the types of fires that are absolutely preventable,” Scarpelli said. “So we’re really trying to make an effort and plead with our citizens that fire safety and fire prevention is their responsibility.”
The fire department is focusing its outreach, called Project Home Safe, on a part of town that according to city data has had more household fires than other areas. The outreach area runs on both sides of East Fourth Plain from East Reserve Street to Northeast Stapleton Road and from Nicholson Road to Mill Plain Boulevard. Because the area is diversely populated, the fire department translated its brochures and one-minute fire safety video into Spanish, Vietnamese and Russian.
The Fire Corps volunteers, who wear fire department T-shirts, vests and ID cards, play the video on iPads purchased with a $28,000 grant from Firehouse Subs, a national fast-food chain started by two firefighter brothers. Then they give the residents a pot holder and spatula with the fire department’s logo on it as a reminder. The whole visit is over in two to four minutes.
“We have gotten amazing feedback,” said Scarpelli, who has participated in the doorbelling campaign. “People are very appreciative of our efforts and seem to be very receptive to have the fire department show up at their front door and say hello and give some safety tips on how to make their family safer.”
The fire tips are nothing new — they’re reminders for people about how critical it is to be mindful of fire prevention, she said.
Recently, a house sustained $521,000 in damage after a resident stepped outside and put out a cigarette in a cardboard box with combustibles in it, she said. Another problem is people extinguishing cigarettes in outdoor potted plants that contain potting soil made with wood chips and other flammable ingredients. Smokers should deposit cigarettes in a metal container filled with water or sand.
In the kitchen, people can get distracted or complacent when they’re cooking. In seconds, a fire can ignite, and soon the kitchen is consumed and the fire is spreading throughout the house. If it’s an apartment building, the fire can engulf the other units and displace dozens of people.
Fires from unattended candles can be a problem, too. Candles should be used only when you’re home and be kept 12 inches from anything that can burn.
“People think it won’t happen to them,” Scarpelli said.
The fire department is seeking interested residents to help with the Project Home Safe campaign. To participate, call 360-487-7219.
