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Smoke alarm fact sheet
Ontario Statistics (1995 to 1997)
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Fewer people die in home fires when a smoke
alarm/detector is present and activates:
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Smoke Alarm Present and Activated: 12 deaths/1000 home
fires
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No Device / Alarm Did Not Activate: 17 deaths/1000 home
fires
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In some fires where people died, smoke alarms were
present but did not activate. In 85% of the cases where the smoke alarm
did not activate, it was due to a dead or missing battery/power source.
The leading fire death scenarios continue to be the
following:
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Home fire caused by smoking materials that ignite
upholstered furniture in a living area at night.
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Home fire caused by smoking materials that ignite bedding
in a sleeping area at night.
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Home fire caused by cooking equipment that is left
unattended in the kitchen at night.
In these scenarios, a working smoke alarm can make a
difference between life and death.
When you set your clocks back one hour on October 30,
remember to change the batteries in your smoke alarms, too! A message from
Energizer and the Fire Marshall's Public Safety Council. For more
information please visit
www.firesafetycouncil.com
HOME SAFE HOME- Fire extinguishers:
every home should have them
If you're a typical Canadian, you probably have a fire
extinguisher in your house or apartment. But do you know where it is? And if
a fire started in your home, would you have time to find it, and put the
fire out?
It's a sad fact, but every year, hundreds of people are
injured or killed by domestic fires that could have been prevented if people
had taken just a little more precaution.
Working smoke alarms will alert you if a fire starts. Fire
extinguishers give you the opportunity to extinguish a fire before it gets
out of control - and that can happen very quickly, so it's critically
important that you know where the extinguisher is, and how to use it.
Extinguishers are readily available at most mass merchants.
You should look for a model that's made by a reputable manufacturer, like
First Alert, and one that carries the Underwriters Laboratories Canada (ULC)
symbol on the package and on the product itself.
There are different types of extinguishers for different
types of fire. Each extinguisher will have a rating specified on the package
and on the product that tells you whether it's intended for ordinary
combustibles such as wood or paper; or flammable liquids such as grease, or
gasoline; or electrical fires. Most manufacturers make it easy for you to
choose which product to buy, by labeling their products as "General Purpose"
or "Kitchen" or "Workshop/ Garage". A smart homeowner will have
extinguishers in each of these locations, and have them easily within reach.
October is Fire Safety Month in Canada, and there's no better
time to think about the possibility of fire in your home. And no better time
to provide yourself and your loved ones with the precautionary safety of
fire extinguishers.
- News Canada
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