Kids get fire prevention tips

With the number in the Eunice on the increase and the busiest part of the year for fires just around the corner, the Eunice Fire Department is doing its part to spread the word on fire prevention.
“There are a lot of older structures in Eunice that need to be refurbished for fire detection and protection,” said Chief Mike Arnold. “Winters are usually when we get more calls, many involving carelessness with heaters.”
Arnold recalled one incident caused by an elderly woman who got up one night to warm her feet with a space heater.
“She had the heater next to a chair, and she went to bed without turning it off,” he said. “Two things caused that fire: one, the proximity of the heater to the chair, and two, the availability of electricity. The extension cord to the heater was coiled under the throw rug.”
“The fire burnt down the house.”
Arnold recommends facing heaters at least 4 to 5 feet away from things that would burn as well as making sure propane heaters are placed in well-ventilated areas.
In addition to heater fires, Arnold has also seen wintertime blazes caused by other electrical devices.
“One of the times it snowed in the last few years, a guy had a heat lamp in his dog’s house,” Arnold said. “The heat lamp caught the dog’s blanket and the dog house on fire and then caught eave of his house on fire. The fire was in the attic, but smoke detectors went off, allowing them to get out.
“The risk to fight attic fires is great because the fire is over your head. We fight it from the outside and do what we can, but we will go inside for a rescue.”
As of Sept. 30, the department had responded to 191 fire calls this year, already surpassing 2013’s total for the year by one call. There were 170 fire calls in 2012 and 126 in 2011. The most calls for 2014 so far are 52 building fires, 30 passenger vehicle fires, 20 grass fires, 18 mobile home fires and 10 brush and grass mixture fires. Building fires also topped the list in 2011, 2012 and 2013, and each year, that number has increased.
As the winter months approach, Arnold suggests checking smoke detectors and possibly investing in the new 10-year lithium batteries for the devices as well as having gas heaters and furnaces serviced and cleaned before turning them on for the first time.
“I clean the lint out of mine with a vacuum,” Arnold said. “That lint can cause a fire, and you can smell that burnt smell all over the house.”
The fire chief also recommends that businesses test their fire detection systems and host drills periodically.
“Be sure to call your alarm company first and let them know you will be setting the alarm off for a drill,” he said.
The winter holiday season also marks a popular time of the year for fireworks use, which can also lead to fires.
“A lot of grass fires are caused by fireworks,” Arnold said. “It can get ugly real quick. A bottle rocket can also land on a house with a bunch of leaves on the roof and ignite those leaves.”
“We do community outreach about heater and fireplace safety, and visit schools and share with them knowledge and awareness.”
As part of fire prevention week, which commemorates the Great Chicago Fire, Arnold and three department employees as well as three volunteers and Sparky the Fire Dog took the awareness to local schools, including Eunice Elementary.
“How many of you know your address?” Arnold asked a group of second graders as many of the hands in the crowd shot up. “If you have to call us, know your address and what part of the house is on fire, if you can. If you call from your house, we will know where you are when you call. If you call from a cell phone, we can’t tell where you are, so you will need to know your address.”
Arnold also told the children that they should bring unattended matches or lighters to the attention of an adult.
“Who knows how to operate a fire extinguisher?” he asked the children. “The anagram is PASS: pull, aim, squeeze and sweep. If you are putting out a fire, aim at the blue in the fire because that is the hottest part.”
“A house fire is too big to extinguish with an extinguisher. That’s for fires in pots on the stove or trash basket fires. If it’s bigger than that, call us.”
The fire chief showed the children several tools used to fight fires and different size nozzles used to spray water at blazes.
“See this inch-and-a-half nozzle?” he asked. “Two hundred gallons of water flow through here in a minute. That’s 200 gallon milk jugs. The deck gun on the truck shoots 500 gallons per minute and it can shoot up to 1,500 gallons per minute, which is what the tank on the fire truck holds.”
A collective “wow” was heard from the group of children, and Arnold took time to answer student’s questions ranging from how to put out grass fires to how air tanks and fire extinguishers are refilled.
“We used big mats to beat down grass fires,” Arnold answered. “We can refill our own air tanks, but we have to send fire extinguishers off to be refilled.