MACKLIN — Fun fact, this is the 100th year that Fire Prevention Week has been held. It started in 1922 and has been held every year since then. The theme this year is “Fire Won’t Wait. Plan Your Escape”
We are already working with the teachers to bring some of the young kids from the school to come and visit us at the hall. We love having the kids come visit us every year and every year we all learn something. We talk to them, and they certainly talk to us. They always have lots of questions. This year we will be talking about home escape plans. This is a particularly good time to talk to your family about your plan. Is there two ways out of every room? Do you smoke alarms and CO detectors work and are they less than 10 years old? Where do you all go in the event of a fire?
When we talk to the kids at the hall, they all know where they are supposed to go when the alarms go off at school, but when you ask where they go when the alarms go off at home a lot of them are not so sure. They know at school because they practice. Do you practice your escape plans at home? In the spirit of Fire Prevention Week. let’s all check our smoke detectors and practice our home escape plan. Remember “Fire Won’t wait. Plan Your Escape”
Membership wise we were able to get two new recruits. Welcome to the department Anderson Bast and Aiden Knox. We are always happy to introduce new members. We could actually use another three or four members to get our numbers up to where we would like to see them. If you have ever thought about joining or have any questions, please feel free to talk to me or any other member of our department. Lots of our members have over 20 years on the department. That should tell you it is a satisfying and rewarding way to help your community. Come out a see what we are about.
We would like to congratulate Terry Elder. He received his 25 years of service pin from the provincial government. Way to go, Terry. Rod Soderlund retired this year from our department as he is moving to another community. He will be missed at the hall and on calls. Good luck in your new town Rod.
Call wise we have responded to more calls this year, so far, than we usually do. We have attended nine motor vehicle accidents already and we have had to work on five fire scenes. There have been seven false alarms which is up from last year. Counting these and some other different calls we are already at 30 calls which is slightly above our average call volume.
One call that stands out for me was a call to a field fire when it was 36 C outside. We were called out just after 1 p.m. and were on the scene until after 7 p.m. That was a long hot day, and everyone was glad to get back to the hall. I would like to thank the local area farmers who showed up so quickly with water trucks and tractors with double disc. You all definitely make an enormous difference that day.
Please remember it is still very dry out and the risk of field and grass fires is still extremely high. Please be careful discarding cigarettes and burning of pits or garbage is not recommended until the snow comes.
Be safe out there everyone. Enjoy the beautiful fall colours.
