Fireworks Use Restricted

For more information click here.

FireWorks Safety Tips from NFPA Click here

Fire Station Tours

UFA recieves many requests for station tours on a daily basis.  We are happy to provide tours at all of our stations to whatever group is seeking one.  Please try to plan for a tour seven days in advance.  We have many other schedule obligations to fulfill. We will do our best to meet requests through effective scheduling and planning. To schedule a station tour call Community Services at 743-7150.  Be prepared to tell us your preferred day and time, number of people, and rough ages of attendees. We will make every effort to meet  your request, but please have several days for us to choose from.   We try to keep tours scheduled during certain times.  These times are Monday through Friday 9-11 am, 1-3 pm, and 6-8 pm.  Tours will be scheduled at other times as well, but crew availability is more limited on other days and times. Please keep in mind that our priority is emergency response, and if a tour is scheduled when an emergency occurs, we must respond to the emergency.  If your tour gets shortened or abandoned due to emergencies, please call us back to reschedule at any time. 

Fire Prevention Week 2008 - October 5th-11th

2007's fire prevention week theme was “Practice Your Escape Plan”. As part of our fire safety education program, through an Assistance to Firefighters grant received in 2003, we are able to make available the UFA fire safety trailer at large community and school sponsored events. The trailer is used to educate children of ages 3-14 on the dangers of fire, what to do when a fire occurs, home fire hazards, playing with matches, electrical hazards, and how to escape safely. The focus was on planning two ways out during a fire. Look for an exciting new theme in 2008!

U.S. Fire Facts

The leading causes of home fires are:

• cooking (which leads to the most fires and the most injuries)
• smoking (which leads to the most deaths)
• heating
• electrical equipment
• intentionally set fires
• In 2005, U.S. fire departments responded to 1.6 million fires–24% were home fires
• In 2005, home fires killed 3,050 people, which is roughly 8 people every day
• In 2005, 13,300 fire injuries from home fires (not counting firefighters injured at fires) were reported to U.S. fire departments
• As of 2004, 96% of all homes (with telephones) had at least one smoke alarm
• Operating smoke alarms were present in only half of the home fires reported from 2000-2004
• 65% of home-fire deaths occurred in homes without smoke alarms or non-functioning smoke alarms.
  

We encourage all residents to have escape plans for their homes and businesses. A sample floor plan can be downloaded from NFPA.

Fire Safety Tips

• Check your smoke detectors regularly: change the batteries every six months when you change your clock
• Know two ways out of your home and business
• Teach Fire Safety to your children
• Crawl Low in smoke
• Stop, Drop. and Roll, if clothes catch fire
• Never re-enter a building that is on fire
• Fire is a tool not a toy

Fire Safety Trailer

The Fire Safety Trailer is a prop used to teach fire safety to adults and children.  It is a 30 foot trailer with three rooms: kitchen, livingroom, and bedroom.  Each room has props and items that we use to teach children fire safe principles.  We are able to simulate a smokey environment for children to practice fire escapes. Its availability is dependent on the time of year and our criteria for use. The trailers use is restricted to large community or school events that meet a minimum criteria.

To request the fire safety trailer, please contact Community Services at 743-7150 or email communityassistance@ufa-slco.org and request the “UFA Fire Safety Trailer Event Form”.
UFA Community Services actively participates in fire safety practices.

911 Tips

9-1-1 is a number provided as a service to allow easy access for emergency services.  Please read the following tips to find out how you can benefit yourself and others by utilizing 9-1-1 correctly. 

When is it appropriate to call 9-1-1?

 9-1-1 should be used to report emergency situations that require immediate police, fire, or medical response in order to:  

• Save a life
• Report a fire
• Stop a crime and/or apprehend a suspect.  This includes any crime that is in progress or where the suspect is still on scene or has just left the scene. 

Another good rule of thumb is if life or property is in eminent danger then calling 9-1-1 is the correct choice.   

When is it appropriate to call the non-emergency dispatch number: 840-4000?

In order to help keep 9-1-1 lines available for reporting emergencies, you should call 840-4000 for situations that do not meet criteria listed above or to request general information.  Some common calls that we receive on 9-1-1 lines that are inappropriate include things such as asking for phone numbers, asking for information for community events, reporting power outages, and reporting non-emergency incidents (i.e. thefts, noise disturbances, etc.)  A good measure of whether to call 9-1-1 or not is to consider if the first thing that you will say is, “ This is not an emergency but…”, if that’s the case use the non-emergency number. Why would I be put on “hold” immediately when I call 9-1-1? Being put on “hold” is a misnomer; the call actually is put into a queue to be handled by the next available call-taker.  The 9-1-1 dispatch center is staffed with call-takers based on the normal call volume during any given period of time.  On occasion, all of the call-takers may be busy assisting other callers; normally this is precipitated by an event which generates a lot of calls such as an accident, a fire, or some other highly visible situation. 

What should I so if my call is put into the queue? 

DO NOT HANG UP!  If you hang up, the remnant of your call remains in the queue and is considered a 9-1-1 hang up.  A call-taker must call back to try to establish if there is a true emergency and in some cases an officer may even be dispatched to your address to check on you.  Most often you are already dialing again, so the call taker will get a busy signal.  If you hang up multiple times, then you can see how multiple call-takers may be busy trying to call you back and the time in which you will receive the response that you need will be increased.  Other callers will also be affected due to the increased call volume created by the hang up calls. 

What should I do if I dial 9-1-1 accidentally? 

Again, DO NOT HANG UP!  Stay on the line to verify that you simply misdialed and that you do not have an emergency.  If you don’t stay on the line it is a 9-1-1 hang up and the call must be handled as indicated in the section above.