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Fireside Chats: Chatting about Mother’s Day…and safety

Written by Rodney Kwiatkowski on . Posted in Community News, West Manatee Fire Rescue.

Someone once said, “Life doesn’t come with a manual, it comes with a mother.” In recognition of all mothers, for all they’ve given and sacrificed for us, West Manatee Fire Rescue District offers three ways you can honor your mother this coming Mother’s Day, 2023.

  1. Make sure Mom has working smoke alarms. Did you know the shelf life of a smoke alarm is ten years? If the date of manufacturing cannot be read or there is discoloration or yellowing of her current smoke alarms, those are good indications they need to be replaced. Also, it is recommended batteries be changed twice a year; many people choose to do this at the same time they change their clocks in the spring and fall. Additionally, if your mother or someone in her household has a hearing impairment, there are specialized smoke alarms that compensate by creating a strobe and vibrating the bed.
  2. Help prevent Mom from falling. Did you know each year 3 million older people are treated in emergency departments for fall injuries? Here are some ways you can help prevent mom from falling: remove electrical cords, shoes, and other items that may be in the way of foot traffic. Use non-slip mats in the bathtub and on shower floors and have grab bars installed on the wall next to the bathtub, shower, and toilet. Finally, ensure that stairways and paths of travel, inside and out, have proper lighting.
  3. Make sure Mom has a working fire extinguisher. Did you know fire extinguishers are an active fire protection device used to extinguish or control small fires during an emergency? It is important to have the proper size and type of extinguisher when fighting a fire and to know your limits. WMFR recommends a 2A-10BC fire extinguisher in every home. Also, fire extinguishers should be placed in a conspicuous, accessible location, generally in a normal path of travel. WMFR recommends you not store your fire extinguisher underneath the kitchen sink. Most home fires start in the kitchen, as a result of unattended cooking. We do not want residents to go into a kitchen, during a fire, to retrieve an extinguisher.

West Manatee Fire Rescue offers fire extinguisher training every third Thursday of the month. For more lifesaving information, and to sign up for our next fire extinguisher class, please visit our Fire & Life Safety Bureau tab at www.wmfr.org

Fireside Chats: Talking fire & life safety with WMFR

Written by Rodney Kwiatkowski on . Posted in Community News, West Manatee Fire Rescue.

In early 1933, United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) gave the first of many of his uplifting Fireside Chats. FDR used the growing medium of radio as a direct conduit to have “conversations” with the American people regarding the many challenges we were facing at the time. Topics included the ongoing banking crisis, recovery from the Great Depression, the New Deal, record home foreclosures and more.

Fireside Chats: Talking fire & life safety with WMFR
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt – Submitted | The History Channel

The purpose of our series of Fireside Chats is similar in that it is our hope to initiate open communication directly with the people of West Manatee Fire Rescue District about the issues we face as a community regarding fire and life safety. In this column, we will discuss all things fire and life safety related, both from an operational and prevention-based perspective. We’ll even discuss the differences between the two. We will also talk about fire codes, which are broad in breadth and scope, along with codes more narrowly related to specific types of occupancies, a term used to indicate the intended use of a space.

Other chats will feature talks about general everyday threats, such as drowning, and heat-related emergencies including exhaustion and stroke, among others. There also will be discussions on specific seasonal threats during holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, Independence Day, hurricane season and more.

Fireside Chats: Talking fire & life safety with WMFR
WMFR responded in Fort Myers during the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. – Submitted | Chief Ben Rigney

Fireside Chats is also an opportunity to learn about what goes on at your local fire station. Here we’ll talk about fire department call types, call volume, trends, demographics and a multitude of other topics. Along the way, much like FDR during his Fireside Chats, we hope to educate, be educated, spread a message that prevents loss to property and life and, most importantly, help our community members to be as safe as possible.