To minimize the risk of fire and burn injuries this Victoria Day weekend, the Vaughan Fire & Rescue is urging residents to include fire safety into their plans.

“Family fireworks or informal neighbourhood displays are not recommended,” says Ontario Fire Marshal Pat Burke.  “Instead families and friends are urged to attend fireworks displays hosted by municipalities. Fireworks are extremely dangerous and should be left to fireworks professionals who are trained to handle and discharge them safely.”

“For those traveling to cottages, cabins and seasonal homes, consider purchasing new smoke alarms and batteries in case they need replacing when you arrive. It’s the law for all Ontario homes, cottages, cabins and seasonal homes to have working smoke alarms on every storey and outside all sleeping areas. If you have a fuel-burning appliance in your seasonal dwelling, check your carbon monoxide alarm,” says Fire Chief Greg Senay. “We want everyone to enjoy this long weekend, and that includes staying safe.”

Other important fire safety tips for the weekend include: knowing the telephone number for the closest fire department and your cottage’s emergency sign number, in case of emergency, keeping barbecue lighters and matches out of sight and reach of children and checking with the local fire department about regulations regarding fireworks.

A Fireworks Safety Tips and Cottage Fire Safety Tips sheet may be viewed and/or saved from the resources section of StopTheFire.org and/or the Office of the Fire Marshal’s website.

Greg Senay
City of Vaughan Fire Chief

This entry was posted on Friday, May 15th, 2009 at 2:57 pm and is filed under From The Chief. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Please leave a response of your own!