Norfolk County Fire Department received 264 combination smoke and carbon monoxide alarms Wednesday thanks to a partnership with Enbridge Gas and the Fire Marshal’s Public Fire Safety Council,
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The donation – made at NCF headquarters in Delhi – is part of Project Zero, the Ontario Fire Marshal’s public education campaign that donates 14,500 alarms to residents in 75 communities across Ontario. Enbridge Gas invested $450,000 in the initiative, and over the past 16 years, has provided more than 100,000 alarms to Ontario fire departments.
“It’s a great opportunity because we know that without working alarms in homes, it puts people at risk,” said NCF Chief Gord Stilwell. “With this generous gift from Enbridge, it gets more alarms into the community and helps protect more people.”
The alarms will be distributed at educational events attended by Norfolk fire safety educators, with a portion going to Norfolk’s community paramedics to share with clients who may not have other means of obtaining smoke or carbon monoxide alarms.
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When properly installed and maintained, combination smoke and carbon monoxide alarms help provide early warning to safely escape from a house fire or carbon monoxide exposure. Carbon monoxide is a toxic, odorless gas that is a by-product of incomplete combustion of many types of common fuels.
According to Health Canada, an estimated 300 Canadians die due to carbon monoxide poisoning each year.
“When people see this partnership, it hopefully reminds them to check their alarms and make sure they’re working because only working and properly operating alarms can save your life,” said Stilwell.
Jeremy Reimer was on hand representing Enbridge Gas as its southwest supervisor of operations. As a Port Rowan native now living in Langton, Reimer was pleased to see the partnership benefit those in his community.
“I grew up here, I’ve known Gord all my life and I know lots of the guys in the department, so anytime I can see things like this come into the community I live in is great,” he said.
“Enbridge is a big company, but we all work where we live so it’s like a smaller company in that way. It’s very community-oriented; we’re always looking to encourage anything that can help the public, help with public education and public safety.”
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