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Gen. Mike Minihan, Commander of Air Mobility Command, visits the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station June 8, 2024.

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Fire Prevention Week is not only about smoke alarms

  • Published
  • By Peter Borys
  • 914th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
NIAGARA FALLS AIR RESERVE STATION, N.Y. --  It's time to test your home smoke alarm again. The 2015 Fire Prevention Week campaign runs from Oct. 4-10 and this year's theme is "Hear the BEEP where you SLEEP: Every Bedroom Needs a Working Smoke Alarm!" It is all about keeping you, your family and our community safe from a fire.

Personnel from the NFARS Fire Department visited several local schools as part of this week's campaign and briefed students on many facets of fire prevention and what to do during an emergency.

Testing your home smoke alarm is just one of many preventive measures, but what can you do if a real fire starts? On base, a new training tool has been added to the inventory to help base employees understand what type of extinguisher to use and become more proficient in putting out small fires (only when it is relatively safe to do so).

The Attack Digital Fire Training System simulates a real fire with smoke and sound effects. Individuals utilize real fire extinguishers to put out the flame.

NFARS Inspector Joe Honsberger stated some of the pros of using this over a real controlled fire:
1. "It's environmentally friendly. It doesn't create carbon emissions or other poisonous gases, doesn't use fuel, and water runoff is completely clean."
2. "This allows us to simulate fires without the danger of heat, heat stress, or accidental explosions."
3. "It's portable allowing us to train in different locations to simulate thinking on your feet and not training in exact same spot over and over."
4. "It has multiple uses: extinguisher training, residential/commercial fire training, search and rescue training."
5. "The smoke is clean burning and isn't hazardous to inhalation."
6. "It's 100% controllable. We can control flame size until users use proper technique to extinguish the fire."

For more information on the proper use and class of extinguishers call the base fire department at 236-2086 or visit NFPA's web site at www.firepreventionweek.org.