Picture taken by CRFRS while they fought to put out a structure fire near Rocky Mountain House.

By Adam Ophus

Fire Safety

Be cautious when heating up your home, officials say

Oct 1, 2019 | 12:03 PM

This past weekend saw a structure fire southwest of Rocky Mountain House that had over 20 firefighters battling for more than eight hours to control the fire due to the heavy construction of the home.

The fire was contained to the attic and the rest of the house suffered water damage.

With winter nearly upon us, the Clearwater Regional Fire Rescue Service wants to remind people of the possible dangers.

“As we saw over the weekend we had a response to a structure fire in the area and it’s kind of a wakeup call for that time of year, when you start seeing an uptrend in heating related structure fires and also carbon monoxide calls this time of year,” Assistant Fire Chief Evan Stewart stated.

He explained that many of the problems they see include uncleaned chimneys, and wood stoves or other heating appliances that are being used for the first time in several months.

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“It’s a good time of the year now to ask and to get your natural gas or heating appliances serviced or inspected by a technician, most gas companies will come out and check your gas equipment for free, as well as you should be getting your chimneys cleaned in the build-up for the winter months that are ahead of us now,” Stewart comments.

Regional Fire Chief Steve Debienne explains that winter brings other issues, with individuals using heaters or heat related products to keep pipes from freezing.

“Just make sure to err on the side of caution when using portable heating devices and to make sure that they are away from combustibles and not being used for anything other than the product recommendations,” he insisted.

Carbon monoxide is commonly forgotten about and often referred to as the “silent killer” as it’s colourless, odourless and tasteless.

“Everybody should have at least one carbon dioxide detector in their home near where they sleep,” finished Stewart.

CO is cumulative and has the ability to slowly poison over time, it’s not usually a major leak that homes have, but small ones that affect people over time.

“Some of the signs and symptoms, dull headache, weakness, dizziness, unexplained nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath, confusion, blurred vision, loss of consciousness and the other big telltale sign is cherry red skin,” Debienne jumped in about the symptoms to look for.

Residents are also reminded to check their combination detectors and smoke detectors regularly.