The Fire Side – safety codes officers

By Muir Furzer Deputy Fire Chief

Welcome to Strathmore’s Fire Department’s first The Fire Side column. This will be a new monthly program that shares fire safety tips and information.
As Deputy Fire Chief and Fire Safety Officer responsible for fire prevention, education and life safety matters, it is my pleasure to pass along fire and life safety messaging to our community and guests.
I would like to take this opportunity to clarify for you one of the many roles provided in and around Strathmore. As a provincial safety codes officer in the fire discipline, we have the responsibility of ensuring public, commercial and industrial properties are safe for public access. Therefore, our safety codes inspection teams conduct fire and life safety visits throughout our community.
During their site visits, inspectors are there to provide any information you may need to ensure that your site safety inspection is informative and complete for your property insurance. As we do inspections, we look for problems that would contradict the Alberta Fire Code. Issues like obstructed emergency exits, exit signs not working properly and access to buildings are just a few.
Another key safety element we have is public fire safety education. Through this program, safety codes officers, with the assistance of operational fire fighters, provide information to promote fire safety through our many programs like Getting to Know Fire, Fire and Fall Safety for Older Adults and Fire Safety for Persons with Disabilities. We also go out and visit with schools, daycares and many community groups, or they come to the fire hall for internal visits.
The fire prevention and safety team are here to serve you and our community. Our trained safety codes officers (SCOs) provide the link between Alberta Municipal Affairs and our community. Our SCOs are informed with current updates and changes to the Alberta Fire Code and Safety Codes Act, and our national fire protection association standards.
In closing, for the month of December we you to view our Winter Fire Safety sheet at strathmorefire.ca, to ensure your seasonal festivities are safe.
If you would like any additional information or would like to book a free visit, please contact Fire Department Prevention and Education section at 403-934-3022, or email firehall@strathmore.ca.
Finally, I would like to share with you the Strathmore Fire Department’s commitment to supporting the community-based Fire and Life Safety Program:
INTENT STATEMENT – Develop a plan to provide for consistent fire life safety inspections of those buildings that have the highest risks based on occupancy, hazard, principal use and age.