One lucky homeowner can safety return to their home after a neighbour called 911 when she heard a smoke alarm.
Windsor Fire crews reported to 445 Glengarry Ave. to find an empty house but a pot left on the stove unattended.
Windsor fire prevention officer Dave O’ Neil said it was “red hot” and the resident are very fortunate Windsor Fire got there when they did.
After removing the pot and turning the burner off, fire crew had to remove light smoke from the fifth floor of the apartment building. There were no fire damages to the home thanks to the alert neighbour who called in, said O’Neil.
“Please never leaving cooking unattended,” he said. “Unattended cooking is one of the leading causes of fires. It’s imperative people stay in the kitchen when they are cooking.”
To help stop this trend and to fix the issue on disabled smoke alarms, the Windsor Fire and Rescue Services will be continuing their new program called Wake Up, Get a Working Smoke Alarm. On Sept. 10, members of Windsor Fire will be travelling the city, knocking on doors and asking residents if they would like their smoke alarms inspected.
Their initiative is to make sure all homes are compliant with provincial law, as far as the installation and maintenance of smoke alarms.
“We’re hoping over the next number of years to visit every single family dwelling in the city of Windsor,” O’Neil said. “First time out we hit approximately 4,500 homes. We want to visit every single home. It’s probably going to take us a number of years to do it.”
When they knock on doors in the community, they will install one alarm for free and install batteries if they are not working properly.
“As a fire department, we’re doing everything we can to keep everyone in Windsor safe,” O’Neil said.
According to O’Neil, they will be releasing the Wake Up, Get a Working Smoke Alarm routes for their 12 apparatuses in the next week or so. Windsor Fire will be travelling the streets on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays for six weeks, like they did earlier this year.
Two hours after the apartment on Glengarry Avenue was deemed safe, O’Neil tweeted (@WindsorFire1) for Windsor residents to check their smoke alarms and retweet the post if they did.
“Let’s see if this can be tweeted 1,000 times,” he said. “Let’s keep everyone safe. If one person checks their smoke alarm tonight, you never know, it may save a life.”
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