Rochester Fire Chief Tom Butler, right, shows Grace Preschool student Hadley Corner how to use a fire hose at the fire station recently. Kids stopped by to learn about fire safety and more. Photos provided.

By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

ROCHESTER —  People used to have approximately 15 minutes to get out of a building after they sensed a fire, said Rochester Fire Chief Tom Butler.

The increase of petroleum-based products in homes has dropped that time to three minutes, he said.

Butler shared the information in light of October being National Fire Prevention Month, with Oct. 8-14 being National Fire Prevention Week.

According to the National Fire Protection Association, the week was officially designated by President Calvin Coolidge in 1925. It always falls during the week of Oct. 9, on which the Great Chicago Fire occurred in 1871.

Butler noted the week comes at the right time as “all the holidays are coming up, so everyone’s starting to decorate, but temperatures start dropping, so people start using their heating devices, their furnaces” leading to a raised risk for fires.

Butler and the Rochester Fire Department have been working to help the community with fire safety this month. With the help of the Red Cross, they’ve already traveled around the city to check people’s smoke detectors and give them new ones or batteries if needed.

Firefighters also talked about having fire escape plans with the city residents as they did with kids at Grace Preschool and His Kids Preschool when they stopped by the fire station last month and this month.

Butler said he asked the parents of the Grace preschoolers if they’ve done fire drills as the preschool has.

“I can’t tell you the last time I’ve been at a school fire, but … last week we were at a home fire,” he said, adding about the short time people have to get out.

“I find a lot of parents have a shocked look when I ask if they’ve done a fire drill at home,” said Butler. “They’d be appalled if the school didn’t conduct one.”

Butler said kids won’t generally hear a smoke detector go off.

“The parent then needs to have a plan at two o’clock in the morning when that smoke detector goes off, how am I going to get from my bedroom to my kids’ bedroom, get them out in that 3-minute time limit?’” said Butler.

Firefighters talked with kids about being careful around hot surfaces in the kitchen and “not playing with the outlets,” he said.

Kids went through the department’s inflatable fire safety house and got to crawl under a “smoke monster” at the end of it.  The RFD plans to take the house to Columbia Elementary School at the end of the month.

Butler encourages adults to make sure the temperature on their water heaters isn’t set too high and regularly check the batteries in their smoke detectors.

“A lot of the new detectors now have a 10-year lithium battery, so you don’t have to worry about it for 10 years, but it’s still a good idea to go ahead and press that test button monthly to make sure that you’re OK,” he said.

Rochester Assistant Fire Chief TJ Dubois, right, helps Grace preschooler Mavrick Wild try on a helmet.

Grace preschooler Emery McCulley sports a kid fire helmet.