Spring is arriving and your thoughts will soon be turning to warmer weather. With it comes a timely reminder to keep your home safe from the threat of fire. In an effort to make this “Spring Cleanup” a fire safe one, here are a few safety tips:
- Test your smoke alarms monthly.
- To help prevent nuisance alarms, gently vacuum your smoke alarm every six months or as needed.
- Change batteries in smoke alarms, carbon monoxide detectors.
- Replace all smoke alarms at least every 10 years.
- Keep outdoor debris or dead vegetation away from the house.
- Store gasoline in a shed or detached garage in an approved container and not in your home.
- Use outdoor barbecue grills with caution. Place in a safe area away from building, windows, heating ventilation and air conditioning units or places with high/dead vegetation.
We continue to make progress on the future planning for a new fire station. We have chosen 5 Bugles to start looking at sizing, space and training needs and locations. As this process continues, we will be looking for input from our community as we strive to maintain the highest level of service.
The department hit a new record for call volume this year with 1069 incidents; we surpassed our previous all- time high the third week of September. This year to meet the additional call volume that we have been seeing and the lack of available day members to respond to calls, we plan to extend our staffing at the station to include two personnel, 12 hours a day, seven days a week plus, an additional two personnel Monday through Friday for 8 hours.
Tim Allen
Department Chief