Polk County
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Polk County Itemizer-Observer • November 9, 2016 8A
Think fire safety first
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
POLK COUNTY — With
the holidays around the cor-
ner, fire safety may not be at
the top of your to-do list, but
it should be.
The weather is changing,
getting colder, and daylight
is getting shorter. Both
mean people are lighting
fires in their fireplaces,
wood stoves, or breaking out
the space heater.
“Right now, with the cold-
er weather coming, we want
to focus on where people are
placing their space heaters,
making sure they have their
smoke alar m batter ies
changed, and that they
check their smoke detectors
once a month,” said April
Welsh, Dallas Fire & EMS
spokeswoman. “Statistics
show that working smoke
detectors do save lives.”
Before you light your next
fire, be sure to give it a good
cleanout.
Chimney cleaning tools
can be borrowed from both
Dallas Fire and from Polk
County Fire District No. 1.
“PCFD has a chimney
brush loaner program,” said
Neal Olson, Polk Fire deputy
chief. “There are a few pro-
fessional chimney sweeps
around, but not many.”
Dallas asks for a $20 re-
fundable deposit for their
program, Welsh said.
The No. 1 cause of house
fires year-round is cooking,
Olson said.
Welsh agreed, noting that
turkey fryers are especially
dangerous. In fact, the Na-
tional Fire Protection Asso-
ciation discourages the use
of home turkey fryers that
“can lead to devastating
burns and other injuries,
and the destruction of prop-
erty due to the large amount
and high temperature of oil
u s e d ,” a c c o rd i n g t o
nfpa.org.
To prevent cooking fires,
do not leave food unattend-
ed and make sure flamma-
ble objects — hot pads,
washcloths or kitchen tow-
els — are away from the heat
of the stove and oven.
It won’t be long before
strings of Christmas lights
will be hauled down from
the attic and plugged in,
draping trees and decorat-
ing homes.
When it comes to Christ-
mas lights, don’t overload
outlets — another common
cause of house fires.
“Turn off Christmas lights
when leaving the home,”
Olson said. “Blow out can-
dles when not home, and
don’t overload receptacles.
Use power strips if neces-
sary, but don’t overload
them, either. A power strip
plugs into a wall, not anoth-
er power strip and not an ex-
tension cord.”
If you didn’t take advan-
tage of the end of daylight
saving time to check your
smoke alarm, do it today.
Smoke detectors don’t do
any good if they aren’t work-
ing, and the fire depart-
ments can even send some-
one out to help.
“We’re more than happy
to come check out some-
body’s smoke detectors,”
Welsh said.
If your alarm tends to go
off while cooking, it may be
poorly placed, Welsh added.
“What we don’t want to
see, and we’ve seen this be-
fore, people will have a
smoke detector, and it keeps
going off because of their
cooking habits,” she said.
“They take the battery out or
remove the whole unit. We
would rather they call us so
we can help find a better
place to put it.”
Take the opportunity of
family gatherings during the
holidays to review — or
begin — fire evacuation
plans.
Each room should have a
primary and secondary exit,
Olson said, and plans
should include a family
meeting place.
Also, keep exits clear and
reduce clutter.
“We have done fire drills
in my home,” Olson said.
“They make a tremendous
impact. When our alarm
goes off, my 17-year-old son
is standing at the front door
before he asks if it’s a drill or
not.”
Welsh said one of her
tricks is keeping doors
closed when the family
sleeps.
Doors can keep smoke
out and help contain a fire,
potentially minimizing
damage.
“A safety plan — not just
for fire, but for emergencies
in general — make sure they
know what they’re going to
do in the face of emer-
gency,” Welsh said. “Have
some kind of plan in place
for their family.”
And never hesitate to dial
911, Welsh added.
“Some people feel like
they can put out their own
fire, but that’s what we’re
here for,” she said. “We
would not want someone to
be injured because they’re
trying to extinguish their
own fire. We have more tools
available to work the fire
and to minimize the damage
that would be done to their
residence.”
Polk No. 1, Dallas Fire and
Falls City Fire Department
are volunteer departments.
For more information on
volunteering and what kind
of help is needed: Dallas and
Southwest Polk, April Welsh,
503-831-3532; Polk No. 1,
Neal Olson, 503-838-1510;
Falls City, Bob Young, 503-
787-3767.
For a printable guide to
planning a fire escape route
for your family, visit the Ore-
gon State Fire Marshal’s
w e b s i t e a t : o re g o n . g ov
/osp/sfm.
Use the drop-down menu
on the righthand side under
“education branch,” and
choose, “Home fire preven-
tion and safety.”
There you will find more
tips on how to keep safe
from house fires, including a
home evaucation plan.
Local fire departments are
also willing to give tips.