Fire Prevention Week is marked from Sunday, Oct. 6 to Sat, Oct. 12.

Fire chief and director of emergency services Steve McGean has been working out of Iqaluit for three years. He came into his current role a few months after the city's former fire chief vacated the position.

SA国际影视传媒淔ire Prevention Week this year is homing in on smoke detectors and fire alarms. Very much stressing the point... [to] make the detectors work for you, but also very much stressing that youSA国际影视传媒檙e doing your semi-annual test on smoke detectors, so changing the batteries in fall and spring SA国际影视传媒� thatSA国际影视传媒檚 every six months to determine your detector is going to be working," he says. "We ask residents if they have any issues with smoke detectors to either reach out to your landlord or stop by and give us a call, weSA国际影视传媒檒l come by and assist.SA国际影视传媒�

McGean points out that the majority of fires in Iqaluit are experienced between midnight and 6 a.m. while most people are sleeping, which highlights the importance of having functioning smoke detectors.

SA国际影视传媒淧eople are being woken up by these alarms, and thatSA国际影视传媒檚 getting them to call in to the fire department to get us responding quickly," says McGean. "ThatSA国际影视传媒檚 why a lot of our recent fires, weSA国际影视传媒檝e been able to get to them fast and put them out fast with minimal damage.SA国际影视传媒�

Iqaluit usually experiences 30 to 80 active fires per year, with 300 to 400 response calls annually. McGean says a large portion of those response calls are from accidental cooking-related fires or smoke responses from oil or vats.

Another reoccurring lesson in fire safety surrounds indoor smoking. McGean reminds Nunavummiut to monitor the heat of charging cables which could cause issues, as well as smoking outside, as well as providing a proper butt can. SA国际影视传媒淚f we keep just using a coffee can in doorways, eventually thatSA国际影视传媒檚 just going to catch fire, and that was the cause of a past fire here in Iqaluit. So keep the smoking outside, if youSA国际影视传媒檙e doing it inside your house, make sure youSA国际影视传媒檙e disposing of [butts] properly. Again, we just want our residents to be safe.SA国际影视传媒�