Manitouwadge Fire Department Celebrates Fire Prevention Week

Written by admin on 17 October 2012

Deputy Fire Chief Denis Narbonne demonstrates the stability and quick inflation of a new water rescue vehicle. Photos OntarioNewsNorth.com

Many of the kids took the opportunity to have photos taken with Sparky. Photos OntarioNewsNorth.com

MANITOUWADGE, ON – Wednesday, October 10th the Manitouwadge Fire Department held their annual Open House in recognition of Ontario Fire Safety Week for. This year’s theme for Fire Safety Week was “Two ways out” was repeated on bags, notepads, keychains and a plethora of other give-a-ways, for children and adults, being shared at the open house, reminding people of the importance of exit plans for their home, camp, or workplace and that there should be two exit strategies identified and practiced.

“The ‘Two ways out’ rule is especially important in Northern Ontario” explained Fire Chief Owen Cranney “People must remember to clear snow or any other obstruction from at least 2 exits from their home and that they should not seal off an exit in efforts to conserve energy or because it is used less often”. Mr Cranney reminds everyone that when an emergency happens you don’t want to be trapped at an exit from which snow has not been cleared or that is unusable for any reason.

Including in the evening were tours of the fire engines, equipment demonstrations, and on display, some of the approximately $20,000 worth of new equipment which was been donated to the department this summer by it’s own volunteer firefighters. Included in the donate equipment are:

2 new EZ up tents
1 Holmatro manual combi tool
1 Holmatro Hydraulic Ram

Along with these tools the volunteer firefighters upgraded the Fire Department’s Holmatro hydraulics system with the Core Technology which is a single line hydraulic system that has only one coupler which permits tool change outs without shutting down the hydraulic system or dumping the pressure and as Fire Chief Owen Cranney demonstrated can be done, when necessary, with just one hand and even with gloves on.

Included in the equipment on display was some of the new equipment donated by the volunteers. Photos OntarioNewsNorth.com

Children at the Open House thoroughly enjoyed the cake and refreshments which were shared but the highlight for most was Sparky’s appearance; he visited with the kids and posed for photos.

If you would like to learn more about fire safety visit the ” www.TwoWaysOut.ca/” website hosted by SafeAtHome.ca in conjunction with the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs (CAFC), the Fire Marshal’s Public Fire Safety Council, Kidde Smoke and CO Alarms, The Home Depot, Duracell, Co-operators and Scholastic Canada. The web site works in concert with the ‘Have Two Ways Out’ public education program offered free to educators, fire departments and households all across Canada. The campaign runs throughout the month of October.