Fire Prevention Week is fast approaching and with it comes the annual Open Houses hosted by our area Fire Departments.  

These are great opportunities for families, especially ones with younger children, to get out and have some fun while learning important fire safety tips.

I remember many decades ago learning the “stop, drop and roll” sequence and I wonder how many of my contemporaries grew up assuming, as I did, that being lit on fire must have been an imminent threat. Thank goodness it never happened to me, and I am not sure if that lingo is even used anymore. But while I never put that strategy to good use, the concept still had value.

Our lives as humans are marked with different risks, and it’s a good idea to learn as much as we can to help keep our children and community members safe. Just as we hope to never have to use our car insurance, we still make the purchase because it’s the prudent and responsible thing to do. So why not head out to the local Fire Department and see what they have to offer for Fire Prevention Week!

Our local firefighters serve a valuable role in our communities. They train to be able to respond to disasters and incidents that we all hope will never happen, but at the same time we know these tragedies are a real possibility. They happen in our communities and it’s the firefighters that are our first line of defense.

If the old adage about “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is true, then let’s all put an ounce’s worth of effort into learning something that can be helpful when it comes to fire safety.

Thank you to our firefighters and first responders. I know they would appreciate it if there were robust crowds at the upcoming open houses. As the other old saying goes, “the life you save just might be your own”.