Enbridge Gas continues its life-saving quest by donating smoke and carbon monoxide alarms to select fire halls throughout Ontario. This morning, Jennifer Beam, an Operations Supervisor at Enbridge paid the Astorville Fire Hall in East Ferris a visit, to provide alarms for the East Ferris Fire and Emergency Services.
Need a new alarm that detects both smoke and carbon monoxide, East Ferris resident? Well, reach out to the fire department at 705-752-2740 to see if you can swing by and pick one up for yourself.
Beam, on behalf of Enbridge, presented Chief Steph Amyotte and the department 96 smoke alarms, which detect carbon monoxide as well. It’s part of a mission called Safe Community Project Zero, run by Fire Marshal’s Public Fire Safety Council. This year alone, Enbridge gave $450,000 toward the cause, and the goal is to give 14,500 alarms to residents in 75 communities across Ontario.
See: Safe Community Project Zero aims to cut carbon monoxide-related deaths to zero
“It’s great to have this partnership with Enbridge and the Fire Safety Council to provide us with these alarms, to donate to the public for those in need,” noted Chief Amyotte. He added that alarms should be changed at least every 10 years, and for some, a new alarm just isn’t in the budget. Today’s gift really helps ensure all people can have effective alarms, regardless of their financial situation.
The Chief also emphasized that it is the law to have working smoke alarms within one’s home, as well as a carbon monoxide detector.
“These alarms are a critical second line of defence against carbon monoxide poisoning,” Beam noted. The first defence? “The best way to reduce potential exposure to carbon monoxide is to properly maintain fuel-burning equipment,” she added.
Since this program began 16 years ago, Enbridge has helped give out just over 100,000 alarms to Ontario fire departments.
Overall, East Ferris residents take their smoke and carbon monoxide alarms very seriously, noted Chief Amyotte. “Our municipality can be proud of our compliance rate,” he emphasized. However, as Chief, he always wants to remind residents “of the importance of working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms.”
“This is an important initiative for the Municipality of East Ferris and East Ferris Fire and Emergency Services.”
As mentioned, there are 96 combination smoke and carbon monoxide detectors ready to raise the alarm at the fire hall. If you need one, call the department at 705-752-2740 to see if you can pick one up.
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
