even safer
Hats off to the Mount Forest Kin Club for purchasing it, and Wellington North Fire Services for seeing the advantage of owning the new Fire Safety Planning House unveiled at the Mount Forest Fire Station this past Saturday.
The first of its kind in Ontario, and only the second one in Canada, the 10 feet wide, 20 feet long and 12 feet tall inflatable house will no doubt prove invaluable when it comes to improving awareness of fire exit planning. As Fire Prevention Public Education Officer Jason Benn said on Saturday, if a family has a plan there is no reason why a family cannot escape a burning building.
Everyone knows the importance of an escape plan, in case of fire, but how many actually have one in place?  How many families actually plan, with their children, how to get to the nearest exits or what to do if the fire alarm in the home suddenly sounds?
Benn spent much of the past year securing the funding to purchase the $11,000 Fire Planning Safety House and then handling the paperwork to ensure its delivery from its Texas manufacturer to Wellington North. The house will be used as an educational device for children and families in Wellington North – and it’s a known fact that educated children educate their parents. How many children have come home from school and chastised their parents for smoking cigarettes, or asked them to buckle their seatbelt when going in the car or wondered where mom or dad’s bicycle helmet is, all because of lessons taught? Most children in the area know Sparky, and the importance of “stop, drop and roll,” because of fire prevention lessons already taught and visits to the fire halls in Arthur and Mount Forest.  Now that the children will be visiting the Fire Planning Safety House, getting to see what it’s like to experience a house fire with the simulated smoke, no doubt parents will be spurred on to complete escape plans.
The house will be taken to schools but it will also make appearances at local fairs and festivals, Benn said Saturday.
The fire prevention officer  also announced on Saturday that he plans to develop a contest where families who submit their family plans to the fire department can have their names entered in a draw. One lucky family will have dinner delivered to their home, by fire truck, and will be joined by representatives of Wellington North Fire Services and Sparky for a pizza dinner.
Kudos to Benn and the fire service, and the Mount Forest Kin Club, for taking steps to make the community of Wellington North even safer than it is now. One fire death is one fire death too many. Hopefully the new Fire Safety Planning House is another step in making fire deaths a thing of the past in this community.