Hatt St. Firehall visit

Captain Ralph told us a few facts about the Hamilton Fire Service and the Dundas Station

• Hamilton has 525 Fire suppression staff. 
• 3 – 5 minutes average response time to a fire. 
• One of the most highly rated services in Canada, resulting in low insurance premiums. 
• In Dundas a crew of 4 are on duty 24/7 – they have one active firetruck and two available as backfill/spares along with the antique 1929 Bickle Fire truck.
•  Rural Dundas is supported to 6pm after which volunteer crews take over from other stations. 
• The station recently underwent a $1M plus renovation and is shared with EMS staff.

Fire Safety Officer Jennifer gave us some more statistics and fire safety food for thought.

• 26,000 calls for help in 2011. 207 structure fires. 73% were in residences. 
• 81% of injuries and 95% of deaths were in residences. Fire emergencies mainly  stemmed from complacency, ignorance and lack of education. Leading causes were kitchen fires, electrical faults, arson and smoking.

Smoke alarms are now mandated one on each floor of a home, including the basement, If you don’t have this – get them installed.

This was brought home by a short video shown to us of a re-creation of a house fire where a life was lost because there was no smoke alarm on the ground floor – occupants had less warning and by the time they tried to exit the fire had spread and temperatures risen to unsurvivable levels.