Fire Safety Tips

Have you planned and practiced how to escape your home in the event of a fire? Here are some recommendations:
  • Draw a map of each level of your home, showing all doors and windows
  • Identify two ways to get out of each room (like a door or a window). Go to each room and point them out to make sure all family members know
  • Make sure someone will help children, older adults, and people with disabilities wake up and get out
  • Teach children how to escape on their own in case you cannot help them
  • Establish a meeting place outside and away from the home, where everyone can meet after exiting
  • Have properly installed and maintained smoke alarms and CO alarms
  • Practice what to do in case there is smoke: Get Low and Go - Get out Fast!
  • Practice using different ways out of the house and closing doors behind you as you leave
  • Remember to never go back inside for people, pets, or things. Go straight to your outdoor meeting place and call 911 from a cell phone or a neighbour's phone

  • Cooking

    • Unattended cooking is the leading cause of fires in the kitchen
    • Scald burns are the second leading cause of all burn injuries. Hot liquids from coffee and even microwaved soup can cause devastating burns

    Recommendations

    • Stay in the kitchen when you are frying, boiling, grilling, or broiling food
    • If you are simmering, baking, or roasting food, check it regularly and stay at home. Setting a timer can help remind you to check your food
    • If you are sleepy or have consumed alcohol, don't use the stove or stovetop
    • Have a “kid-free zone” of at least 1 metre around the stove and areas where hot food or drink is prepared or carried
    • Keep anything that can catch fire (cooking utensils, dishcloths, paper towels, potholders, etc.) away from your stovetop
    • Avoid loose clothing as it can hang over stove burners and catch fire. Wear short, close-fitting, or tightly rolled sleeves when cooking
    • Always keep a lid nearby when cooking. If a small grease fire starts, slide the lid over the pan and turn off the burner. Leave the pan covered until it is cool
    • If a fire starts in your oven, turn off the heat and keep the door closed

  • Outdoor Fires

    With summers becoming hotter and drier in recent years, forest conditions are extremely dry. Make outdoor fire safety a lifestyle choice. Don’t be the cause of a bushfire.

    • Dispose of smoking material in a non-combustible container. Flicking ashes or butts is extremely hazardous both to homes and wildland
    • Within the municipal boundary, no outdoor open-air fires are allowed without an approved burning permit or an approved fire pit
    • Ensure campfires are out before leaving or going to bed
    • Burn in approved fire pits only
    • Have an extinguishing source close at hand when having a campfire
    • Never leave campfires unattended
    • Beware of hot engines (quads, motorbikes, etc.), lighting grass or brush on fire when riding off-road

    Do your part to keep Yellowknife and the surrounding area safe. If you see a forest fire, report it as soon as possible by calling 911 or the Forest Fire Hotline (1-877-698-3473).

  • Home Heating

    Heating equipment is one of the leading causes of home fires during the winter months.

    • Never use your oven to heat your home
    • Have heating equipment installed by a qualified professional according to local codes and the manufacturer's instructions
    • Have heating equipment and chimneys cleaned and inspected every year by a qualified professional
    • Keep combustibles (anything that will burn) at least one metre away from heating equipment
    • Install CO alarms and smoke alarms, including at least one close to the bedrooms, to warn you if CO enters your home due to a faulty furnace or boiler
    • Have furnaces and boilers serviced by a qualified professional at least once a year
    • If your boiler or furnace needs to be replaced, ensure it's done by a qualified professional according to local codes and the manufacturer's instructions

  • Wood Stoves, Fireplaces & Pellet Stoves

    • Installations need to be WETT-certified (Wood Energy Technology Transfer) for insurance purposes, as well as inspected by the City
    • Clean the chimney as often as necessary to prevent creosote buildup
    • Have a 1 metre “kid-free zone” around woodstoves/fireplaces/pellet stoves
    • Ensure the fireplace has a sturdy screen to stop sparks from flying into the room
    • Ashes from woodstoves/fireplaces/pellet stoves should be cool before putting them in a metal container. Keep the container a safe distance away from your home on a non-combustible surface

Smoke Alarms

Working smoke alarms cut the risk of dying in a home fire in half. In general, you have 3 minutes to exit your home once the smoke alarm activates before your primary escape routes are blocked by smoke. Early fire detection provides the highest level of safety should a fire occur.

Installation

  • You should have smoke alarms:
  • On every level of your home, In the hall outside of the bedrooms, recommended in all bedrooms
  • Smoke alarms are best mounted on the ceiling or on the wall within six inches from the ceiling
  • All smoke alarms should be hard-wired. Hard-wired smoke alarms should have a battery backup in case of power outage. Smoke alarms that are not hard-wired (battery-operated only) can help give early warning if they are regularly maintained
  • If your smoke alarms are interconnected, it means that when one smoke alarm is activated, it will activate all smoke alarms wired together. This is to ensure that if a smoke alarm detects smoke in a remote part of your home, you will hear the smoke alarm activation even when you are sleeping. This early detection is to help give you the time needed to escape

Maintenance

  • Test your smoke alarms once a month (by pushing the test button)
  • Change the battery minimum once a year (or when it chirps)
  • Change out your smoke alarms at the end of their service life (10 years for smoke only, 7 years if combination Carbon Monoxide and Smoke alarm).
  • If you are in a rental or leased property it is the responsibility for you to notify your landlord with any concerns of your smoke alarm, it is the landlord’s responsibility to maintain the smoke alarm

Carbon Monoxide (CO) Alarms

Working CO alarms provide notification to occupants that odorless nonvisible deadly CO is present in your home.

Installation

  • You should have CO alarms if you have any fuel fired appliances in your home such as hot water tanks, fireplace, propane fueled stoves, attached garage and heating devices:
  • Adjacent to each sleeping area
  • CO alarms can be mounted on the ceiling or into an electrical outlet located in a wall

Maintenance

  • Test your CO alarms once a month (by pushing the test button)
  • Change the battery minimum once a year (or when it chirps)
  • Change out your smoke alarms at the end of their service life of seven years