By Katherine Svenkeson

Fire department to step up home inspections in 2017

Jan 21, 2017 | 9:00 AM

The North Battleford Fire Department’s 2017 safety initiatives will centre on inspecting the places where we spend the most time.

Fire Chief Albert Headrick said his department’s fire safety programs are going to focus on the home more than previous years. People’s time is primarily spent at home, he said, which makes residential buildings a common place for fires and other accidents to occur.

“We constantly do inspections, what I call scheduled inspections, for different occupancies throughout the community where people spend the majority of time,” Headrick said.

“A lot of people say ‘well you should be doing a lot of inspections of these businesses like 7/11 or Esso,’ but let’s be honest with each other. The majority of time we spend is at home after our working day,” he said.

Headrick said the fire department will inspect more full-time occupancy areas this year, including both homes and businesses. The department will assist with building planning to ensure codes are met in the home, Headrick said, and will also help businesses understand their training and fire safety obligaitons.

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The department has been more active with inspections in recent years. According to a recent department report 543 inspections were performed in 2016 compared to 420 in 2015. The department also stepped up their fire plan reviews and fire extinguisher training in the past two years.

Fire safety program presentations at schools dropped in 2016, but Headrick said schools are good at knowing their roles and responsibilities. The fire department, he said, will work closely with schools in 2017 to ensure all fire codes and fire drill requirements are met.

Katherine Svenkeson is a reporter with battlefordsNOW. She can be reached at katherine.svenkeson@jpbg.ca or on Twitter @ksvenkeson.

by Katherine Svenkeson

Fire department to step up home inspections in 2017

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