As the fall season begins, the Crookston Fire Department has some fall fire safety tips and programs to help keep everyone safe in their homes.
Firefighter Garett Bengston advises residents to follow the city’s guidelines for leaf and stick collection and to avoid burning leaves, which is against city policy and can be dangerous given the recent dry weather. “You got the leaves, and people will start taking care of brush and stuff in their yards. We just want to give out a safe reminder that we’re not just burning our brush piles in the yard. We want to make sure that we haul those off with city burning rules and everything. Take it to the transfer station as an option. Jut don’t burn them in your fire pit or anything like that.”
Another tip is to make sure that window wells are clear and that windows can be opened fully in case they become an escape route during a fire. The fire department will be working with students at local schools during Fire Safety Week, October 4-10, to develop escape route maps and plans for their families in the event of a fire. These school events are very popular with the firefighters and the kids. “Oh, they’re super jazzed to go, too. They act all excited, ‘Hey, I got mine done’, and it’s like ‘Good, good to hear.’ And then that’s just chit-chatting with them out in the public. So they’re excited about doing it.”
In addition to the schools, the Crookston Fire Department continues to build partnerships with local businesses to help create awareness for the use of smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, including the Domino’s Fire Safety Program. During Fire Safety Week, the fire department will ride along with Domino’s delivery drivers and offer to test the customers’ smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. If the detectors are in place and working properly, their order will be free. “We’re trying to make sure everyone’s got the smoke detector to save lives. I mean, it gives you valuable minutes to get out of the house or seconds to get out of that house and get everyone, all the family members out. And if we can make sure everyone’s got the detectors that they’re supposed to and where they need to be, I sleep better at night.”
Another event during the month of October will be a new partnership with Hugo’s Family Marketplace for smoke detector surveys, in which residents will complete a survey and have the fire department come to their house to inspect their detectors. Participants will be entered into a drawing held at the end of the month, with the winner receiving a prize.
As the sugarbeet harvest continues, Bengston reminds drivers to be patient with the increased farm equipment on the roads and to keep their windshields and turn signals clear. “With sugar beet season coming in, make sure that your windshield washer fluid is full, making sure you wipe them off, and then keeping your blinkers clean for beet trucks and other passenger vehicles to see when you’re making your turns, and then giving those trucks time to slow down to make their turns earlier to avoid that rush.”
Bengston encourages everyone to have a fire safety plan in place and always contact the fire department to report a fire.
