Kindergartener Kilynn Landsberger practices escaping through a window when the smoke alarm went off and she saw smoke in the Kid's Fire Safety House at the Community Fire Preparedness Day.
Attendees at the Community Fire Preparedness Day Saturday, May 7 were able to visit with professionals from nearly a dozen organizations to help protect their homes and themselves during an emergency.
SEELEY LAKE – Nearly a dozen organizations filled the bays of the Seeley Lake Fire Hall for the Community Fire Preparedness Day May 7. The community was invited to get information about how to protect their homes in the event of a wildland fire and how to protect themselves and their family during a structure fire.
"We are trying to get the community to realize and understand the risk that they live in in the wildland urban interface. Fire can happen at any time, whether human caused or by lightning. Fire seasons are so unpredictable," said Jordan Koppen, Public Relations Specialist with the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. "We are trying to hammer in that we are in the ready phase."
Koppen highlighted that the ready phase includes assessing the fuels that can be hazards around the home should it be threatened by a wildland fire. This includes the home ignition zone out to 200 feet around a structure, needles on decks and roofs, woodpiles, and vents that aren't closed in and without spark arresters.
"It's not necessarily the flame front that is going to take out your home," said Koppen. "It is the embers after that are going to get stuck in the hard-to-reach places [that can cause a structure to ignite during a wildland fire].
Attendees visited with the Red Cross to learn how to be better prepared for an evacuation should it be ordered during a wildfire event and learn more about the services the Red Cross provides. They were able to sign up for Smart911 giving emergency personnel information prior to responding to a home that may help save someone's life in an emergency. Residents could get a free smoke detector for their home as a part of the Smoke Detector Give-Away Program with the Seeley Lake Fire District. Youth could also practice their response to a smoke alarm and smoke by escaping through a window in the Missoula Kid's Fire Safety House.
Koppen said, "We are trying to get the community to come to us so we can reach out to them and help them with their fire risk."
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