Community relations coordinator says 'tis the season for extra fire safety precautions
- Fraser Needham | December 22, 2014
Kurt Delorme says the best way to put out a fire is to prevent one before it happens.
For the past eight years, the Saskatoon Fire Department’s community relations department coordinator has been visiting local schools and educating students on fire prevention safety tips.
This includes talking to youth about the importance of having a well placed and working smoke detector, stressing some of the fire hazards involved in the kitchen with cooking and the potential dangers of candles, fireplaces and electrical outlets.
“Our job is proactive versus reactive,” he says. “You think fire trucks respond to emergencies, where our job is kind of to educate so these emergencies don’t happen.”
Delorme adds the fire department believes the best way to get families talking about fire safety is to target children and this is why he spoke to upwards of 10,000 students last year at various Saskatoon schools.
Thirty-six-year-old Kurt Delorme grew up on the Cowessess First Nation reserve before moving to Saskatoon for university. He first started working for the Saskatoon Fire Department in 2002 as a youth coordinator for the river safety education program. He then left for period of time before coming back on board as the community relations coordinator in 2006 and hasn’t looked back since.
“A lot of times that’s all you need is that opportunity, right, or someone to give you that opportunity,” he says. “I’m thankful enough that one day 12 years ago, 2002, I answered that newspaper ad and said, ‘Yeah, I’ll take it.’ It wasn’t the best paying job at the time because it was just an initial summer program but 12 years later it’s turned into a lot of good things and a lot of good opportunities.”
Another part of Delorme’s job is working with young people who may be getting a little too interested in fire, posing potential safety risks and run ins with the law down the road. He says it is more often than not the case youth taking risks with fire are troubled and taking these risks is a way of acting out.”
“It used to just be often curiosity but a lot of times now there’s no issue with fire but there’s a lot of other things going on. A lot of things going on in their peer groups, in their social life – something – and fire could be what we call maybe the cry for help type of stuff.”
With Christmas just around the corner, Delorme says there are some extra fire safety precautions residents need to take heed of over the holiday season. He says if you decide to go with a real Christmas tree, the more freshly cut the better, as the drier the tree is the greater the potential fire hazard. Also, once the real tree has been placed in your home and decorated, you need to ensure it is watered on a regular basis to keep the tree as fresh as possible, he says. Avoid overloading electrical outlets, use fire-retardant decorations and be wary of faulty Christmas lights are some of the other tips.
“If you’re not like me and you like to get a real tree, making sure maintain it, having that water,” he says. “Making sure it doesn’t dry out and you want to make sure also with your lights that you maintain them, making sure your extension cords are not frayed, anything like that.”
A full list of Christmas fire safety tips is available on the Canada Safety Council’s website.
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