A call that Airdrie Fire has classified as a structure fire is serving as a cautionary tale for fire safety.

Yesterday (November 1) at around 8:30am, firefighters responded to reports of a fire on Arbor Crescent. According to Deputy Fire Chief Garth Rabel, they found the family and their dog safely evacuated from the house after hearing their smoke detector go off. Upon entering the home, crews discovered both levels of the two story house filled with smoke.

"Once the crews made their way inside, they did find that a jacket had been put too close to a heating appliance, a stove, that kicked in because of the cold weather and inadvertently started the smoldering away on the jacket, which then quickly filled the basement and up to the upstairs with smoke."

Despite the smoke, there was no actual fire. Crews moved the jacket outside, ventilated the house and the family safely returned home after air monitoring of the interior of the house was completed and deemed safe.

Rabel said the family responded correctly given the situation, and the incident serves as an example for the importance of working smoke alarms.

"Working smoke alarms do save lives, so the early activation by the alarm, the residents being able to hear it and then implement their plan to escape to the street and to their meeting place and meet the fire crews when they arrived, that's exactly how the situation is supposed to play out."

He also said the incident serves as a reminder for fire safety as the weather gets colder.

"If you are drying jackets, gloves, items such as that, make sure that you don't put them close to anything with a flame or where we can have this type of situation occur."

Families should also check their heating appliances year round to make sure they are maintained and in good working order, so that when the weather gets colder malfunctions don't result in fires.

 

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