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Adam Ledlow: Hello everyone, my name is Adam Ledlow,
I’m with the Canadian Hearing Society,
I’m here today in Toronto, Ontario,
Toronto Fire Services Station 121, with Denise Hynes.
Denise is Acting Captain here,
and we’re gonna be talking about fire safety and prevention
for people who are Deaf and hard of hearing.
Denise, thank you so much for joining us.
Denise Hynes: My pleasure!
Ledlow: So first question I wanna ask,
when we’re talking about fire safety
for people who are Deaf and hard of hearing,
that’s gotta be an especially important thing,
like for myself, when I take off my cochlear implants at night,
I can’t hear anything.
And then we have another segment of the population,
of course, who is aging,
we’ve got the boomers getting older,
why is it especially important
for people who are Deaf and hard of hearing
to be mindful of fire safety and prevention?
Hynes: So true, Adam. One of the most important things
is hearing about a fire right away.
So if it’s someone who can’t hear the regular alarm,
they need to make sure that they get some products
from the Canadian Hearing Society
that are designed for people that are Deaf or hard of hearing.
You need to have that early alert
because you may only have one minute to get out of your home.
If you don’t have that minute warning to get out?
That’s putting you in real, real danger.
Ledlow: And like we spoke about before,
if you can’t actually hear an audible alarm,
you might not have any time at all.
Hynes: That’s right. Exactly right.
So you need to have some other notification,
whether it’s the bed shaker, the strobe light,
the products that you have at the Hearing Society,
you’d be able to have your experts outline exactly what people need.
Because if you’re sleeping in your bed at night,
you need to have something that’s gonna alert you,
and that’s what you’d be able to take care of for people.
You’re gonna get that warning,
so you can get up and get outside right away.
Ledlow: And that’s the product end of things, of course,
there’s also things that people can do in their homes,
you need to make sure that you’re safe,
and you’re prepared in your home –
not just by having the products,
but basically being ready in the event of a fire.
What can people who are Deaf and hard of hearing
actually do to make sure that they’re prepared,
in addition to the things that they have in their home?
Hynes: We ask everyone to actually practise,
and plan, prepare, and do a fire drill at home.
Every month is the optimum way to do it.
So we actually ask you to have an alarm set off,
when people are sleeping.
So one person in the family volunteers to do it,
they set off the alarm,
and they make sure that everybody gets the alert
that they need to get outside.
If you can’t hear it, then you can’t get outside.
We have some resources that we provide for people,
where you can actually write out your plan,
look at your ways out of every room,
two ways out if you can,
windows that open, doors you can get out to,
and it’s very important that everyone meets
at a family meeting place out in front of the home.
Ledlow: And obviously, prevention itself
is probably the key thing.
You don’t want to have a fire at all.
I mean, these are some great things in the event of a fire,
but what can people do in their homes to make sure
that they’re preventing fires from happening in the first place?
Hynes: You’re so right, Adam. Prevention is number one.
And the number one cause of fires, is cooking fires.
So, we ask people to stay in the kitchen and look while they cook.
If you have to leave for a reason, turn the burner off.
Where there’s no heat, there’s no fire.
Ledlow: And let’s just briefly talk about this week’s theme,
actually Fire Prevention Month is in the month of October,
talk about the theme of this week,
and why it’s important.
Hynes: Fire Prevention Week theme this year has to do with
the length of time that you have your alarm.
A lot of people aren’t aware that both hard-wired
and battery-operated alarms have a ten-year lifespan.
So, if your alarms are approaching that time,
it’s time to head to the shop, take another look and replace them,
to make sure that you’re gonna have perfect alarms
that are gonna get you up and get you outside.
Ledlow: Well, thanks again very much Denise,
for having us here, for anyone who’s watching,
if you have any interest in purchasing
any of those fire safety and prevention products
we were talking about,
please visit our website, at chs.ca.
Thanks very much for watching. Thanks Denise.
Hynes: Thank you!