Fall 2022 Hometown Messenger

PUBLIC SAFETY

Fire won’t wait; plan your escape Fire Prevention Week is Oct 9–15

Imagine it's 3 a m and you are sound asleep A fire starts in your home, but as the flames spread and smoke begins to fill the rooms, will you wake up and escape safely? If you have a smoke alarm, the device's warning signal can wake you from your sleep and alert you and others in the home to the danger so you can escape The members of the Shakopee Fire Department feel strongly about the importance of working smoke alarms The department is teaming up with the nonprofit organization, National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), and other firefighters across North America in promoting Fire Pre ventionWeek, Oct 9-15 The theme for this year's campaign is: "Fire won’t wait Plan your escape" NFPA has been the official sponsor of Fire Preven tionWeek since 1922 A fire can grow and spread throughout a home quickly In fact, you may have as little as two minutes to get out safely once the alarm sounds With close to 80% of all fire deaths occurring in the home, it's easy to see why smoke alarms are essential in every household People have been using smoke alarms since the 1970s, when they first became available in stores Since then, they've helped to cut the risk of dying in a fire by nearly half Every firefighter’s wish is that everyone has a smoke alarm, but that's not the case Roughly 70%of home fire deaths result from fires in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms Last year in Minnesota, 41 people died in home fires NFPA recommends that at least one smoke alarm be installed on each level of a home—including the basement—and outside every

separate sleeping area They should be tested once a month using the test button The batteries on smoke alarms should be replaced once a year or sooner if the alarm "chirps," meaning that the battery is low Replace all smoke alarms after 10 years, even those that are hard-wired or smoke alarms with long-life (10-year) batteries Smoke alarms with long-life batteries should also be replaced when the alarm chirps or fails to respond to periodic testing The batteries in these units can not be replaced To learn more about Fire PreventionWeek, visit NFPA at www.firepre ventionweek.org For any fire safety questions or concerns, please contact the Shakopee Fire Department at 952-233-9570

Fire blankets making a comeback The fire service is looking to its past and using old technology for a new issue Electric Vehicle (EV) fires have become a concern for the nation’s fire service due to the increase in the number of these vehi cles on the road It’s just a matter of time before we have one start on fire in our response area We are using old, but very effective, technol ogy to prepare for this occurrence

This old technology may be very useful in Shakopee where under ground parking is becoming the norm when constructing commer cial and apartment buildings Think about an EV parked in the under ground ramp and the battery starts on fire These fires produce a lot of heat, toxic smoke, and fumes The fire blanket can be deployed quickly by the first two firefighters on scene, blocking new air from getting to the fire and blocking some of the smoke so it doesn’t bil low into the building A demonstration video can be found at https://bit.ly/3BdkZZu

Remember the basic science of how fire burns Fire needs something to burn (fuel), the heat to get the fuel to a burning temperature, and air to keep feeding the flames If you take one of those elements away, the fire can’t survive We are using this science to remove air from a vehicle fire by using something that’s been common in factories and farms for years We will soon deploy a fire blanket over the burning vehicle to remove the air from the fire This action basically snuffs out the fire by not allowing air to get to the fire The blanket is deployed by two firefighters and pulled over the burn ing vehicle Another firefighter will use a water mist to cool the blan ket and keep it from moving or blowing around The length of time the blanket must be draped over a vehicle depends on the type of vehicle, EV vs combustion engine, the location of the fire in the vehi cle and the size of the fire We suspect that an EV with a battery fire may have to stay covered for hours or even days We don’t want the fuel (battery) to reignite over and over, which has been an issue with thermal runaway in battery fires where the fire department just uses water to cool the outside of it

This fire blanket reduces a fire’s access to air, essentially snuffing it out

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