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What is The Home Safety Program?
The Home Safety Program is a comprehensive home safety check offered at no cost. The program looks to identify fire and injury hazards in the home as well as install smoke alarms where needed. The goal of the program is for the homeowner or tenant to become aware of hazards in the home and take precautions to reduce or limit their potential for fire and injury.
The information regarding the hazards identified in the home is collected for the benefit of the homeowner or tenant. Red Deer Emergency Services will not keep this information. The only information that Red Deer Emergency Services will retain is if batteries or smoke alarms were given or installed in the home.
Why are home safety checks important?
Many fire & injury hazards are right before our eyes, but unless they are pointed out we often do not recognize them. Canada has been experiencing a silent epidemic for many years. It is not cancer or heart disease. It is an epidemic of injury. Alberta consistently rates higher than Canadian average rates of injury. We believe injuries area predictable and preventable and believe the best way to educate is a door to door program. Red Deer Emergency Services is a proactive department striving each year to reduce the amount of fire & injury calls we respond to. We believe there is a stark contrast between the cost of preventing injuries and the cost of treating injuries. Prevention always cost less1
- $1 spent on smoke alarms saves $69
- $1 spent on bicycle helmets saves $29
- $1 spent on poison control services saves $7
Although the greatest cost of injury is in human suffering and loss, the economic burden of unintentional injuries cost the people of Alberta close $2 billion annually. Falls, poisonings, and fires account for a large portion of the problem and just a few of the areas covered in a home safety check.
How will the program be conducted?
Red Deer Emergency Services (RDES) personnel are assigned selected areas of the city each year. Please follow this link for a map of where the program is currently being conducted. Between March and October of each year RDES personnel conduct door-to-door home safety checks. If you see a fire truck or ambulance parked on your street, and members walking door to door, please invite them in for a free home safety check. Personnel are always in uniform while conducting this program.
Two RDES personnel will conduct each home safety check. The homeowner or tenants must be in attendance and must grant permission for the safety check to occur. RDES personnel follow a uniform home safety check sheet, modeled after the National Fire Protection Associations (NFPA) Code 1452, Guide for Training Fire Service Personnel to Conduct Dwelling Fire Safety Surveys.
What are some of the recommendations that might be made?
During a home safety check, recommendations will be made concerning kitchen safety, smokers material, candle use, safety around furnaces & water heaters, hazardous product awareness and much more. If a smoke alarm is missing or not working, the fire fighter will offer to immediately install a new smoke alarm for the homeowner or tenant at no charge.
For more information on what we look for please see Home Safety Check Sheet.
1Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ACICR.
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