Rotary Minutes – January 3rd, 2018
Guests:
Kevin Schmaltz, Fire Safety Officer, Kitchener Fire Dept. (Speaker)
Kevin Serjani, son of Rotarian Klara Serjani
50/50 Pot was $111.00
Karin Voisin, John Vickery & Ed Simon were the unlucky numbers drawn.
Speaker – Kevin Schmaltz
Kevin reviewed a video produced by the Ontario Fire Marshall, of a reproduction of an actual fire that took place in a semi-detached house in Ontario. As both units were required to be torn down, the Fire Marshall received permission to re-create the tragic fire in the other unit as it sustained minimal damage from the fire next door.
From the time the fire is ignited by fire officials, it takes only 3 minutes for the entire ground floor to be engulfed in flames at over +900c.
In the actual fire, with a family of 4 asleep on the second floor, the smoke alarm in the second floor hallway went off at 1m 25s. The mother and a 3 y/o child made it out, but fire officials concluded that the 5 y/o boy became scared of the heat and smoke encountered with his father at the bottom of the stairway and ran back upstairs. Due to the black smoke, his father couldn’t find his son and he was forced to evacuate without him. The little boy would have succumbed to the toxins and density of the smoke almost immediately. It was a sobering film and commentary.
Top 4 causes of fire: unattended cooking, candles, careless smoking, electrical. This fire was caused by a frayed lamp cord caught under a wicker chair with metal feet, which arced (+1000
C), igniting the wicker.
Check your smoke alarms often!
