WESTLOCK — Westlock County Protective Services and the Town of Westlock Fire Department are teaming up to present another Fire Prevention Week open house, at the Westlock fire hall on Oct. 12.
The annual event takes place from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and will feature several displays, interactive activities, a pancake breakfast and demonstrations.
“Last year we held it at the beginning of Fire Prevention Week, this year we’re going to hold it at the end of Fire Prevention Week with social media campaigns throughout the week,” said Town of Westlock fire chief Stuart Koflick.
Like past years, the open house will welcome dozens of area families to learn about fire safety and this year’s theme “smoke alarms: make them work for you!”.
“You attend the fire hall and receive a punch card as a family and you go through the different educational displays or activities,” said Koflick. “The card gets punched at those activities and once they’ve got a completed card, then they can treat themselves to a pancake breakfast.”
Koflick noted some of the activities will include a firefighter challenge, fire safety (mobile) house, tours of fire equipment, a 9-1-1 display and smoke alarm display and a cooking fire demonstration.
“Last year was the first year that we did that and it proved to be very, very popular,” said Koflick. “That will be a display that involves a simulated kitchen … we’ll heat up some oil to its ignition temperature and we’ll demonstrate how long that takes,” he added. “We’ll show the consequences of improperly extinguishing a kitchen (grease) fire.”
Koflick pointed out the importance of holding their annual open house, an event that goes a long way in helping equip residents and businesses with how to have a fire safe home or business, how to evacuate and how to maintain fire alarm systems.
“Fire Prevention Week is an opportunity for us to engage with the public, provide some good information, maybe recruit some new members and at the same time provide some really valuable fire safety information,” said Koflick.
