GUELPH, ON, Oct. 6, 2022 /CNW/ - Fire departments across Canada are teaming up with Co-operators, CanOps, and the National Fire Protection Association® (NFPA®) to celebrate 100 years of Fire Prevention Week™ and to promote this year's campaign, "Fire Won't Wait. Plan Your Escape™".  This year's campaign, Oct. 9-15, works to educate everyone about the simple but important steps they can take to keep themselves and those around them safe. 

"Fire safety education is important for everyone," said Maya Milardovic, AVP Government Relations at Co-operators. "Fire presents a real risk to all of us, making it important for every member of the community to take these messages seriously and put them into action, so that you can protect what matters most."

Fire departments and local Co-operators advisors are encouraging all residents to actively support this year's Fire Prevention Week campaign by developing and practicing a home fire escape plan with all members of their household. Co-operators has donated 200 Fire Prevention Week kits to fire departments across Canada that include activities and information for children and adults and provide age-appropriate messages about home fire safety and prevention. 

"Today's homes burn faster than ever. In a typical home fire, you may have as little as two minutes (or even less time) to safely escape from the time the smoke alarm sounds." said Laura King, NFPA regional director for Canada.  "Your ability to get out depends on early warning from working smoke alarms and advance planning."

"We are very excited to partner with Co-operators and the NFPA® to have the opportunity to distribute fire safety education materials to fire departments across Canada," said Mieka Pittman, VP Enterprise Business Transformation at CanOps.  "The more education and awareness that Canadians have regarding how to keep themselves and their families safe in home fires, the more lives will be saved; therefore we encourage all Canadians to take time to develop their home escape plans". 

Fire departments are sharing the following safety tips this Fire Prevention Week that focus on home escape planning and practice:

• Make sure your home escape plan meets the needs of all your family members, including those with sensory or physical disabilities.
• Smoke alarms should be installed inside every sleeping room, outside each separate sleeping area, and on every level of your home. Smoke alarms should be interconnected so when one sounds, they all sound.
• Know at least two ways out of every room, if possible. Make sure all doors and windows open easily.
• Have an outside meeting place a safe distance from your home where everyone should meet.
• Practice your home fire drill at least twice a year with everyone in the household, including guests.
• Practice at least once during the day and at night.

For more information about Fire Prevention Week and this year's theme, "Fire won't wait. Plan your escape." visit www.fpw.org.

Co-operators also has a resource on how to prevent fires at home and a three-minute PSA on the importance of fire escape planning is also available as an mp4, upon request.

Co-operators is a leading Canadian financial services co-operative, offering multi-line insurance and investment products, services, and personalized advice to help Canadians build their financial strength and security. The company has more than $61.5 billion in assets under administration. Co-operators has been providing trusted guidance to Canadians for the past 76 years. The organization is well known for its community involvement and its commitment to sustainability. Achieving carbon neutral equivalency in 2020, the organization is committed to net-zero emissions in its operations and investments by 2040, and 2050, respectively. Co-operators is also ranked as a Corporate Knights' Best 50 Corporate Citizen in Canada. For more information, please visit: www.cooperators.ca.

Founded in 1896, NFPA® is a global self-funded nonprofit organization devoted to eliminating death, injury, property and economic loss due to fire, electrical and related hazards. The association delivers information and knowledge through more than 300 consensus codes and standards, research, training, education, outreach and advocacy; and by partnering with others who share an interest in furthering the NFPA mission. For more information, visit www.nfpa.org. All NFPA codes and standards can be viewed online for free at www.nfpa.org/freeaccess.

The Canadian Public Safety Operations Organization (CanOps) is a national not-for-profit organization formed in 2014 to provide innovative public safety solutions and services across Canada by bridging people, communities, industries and governments with the resources they need or becoming the mortar between the bricks - bringing more people and organizations to the table. 

Through developing new public safety products and education campaigns, sponsorship opportunities, and partnerships with experts in the field, CanOps is able to provide the advantage of low pricing and the accessibility of bilingual, national programs and material to benefit public safety agencies across Canada. For more information, please visit: www.canops.org or for public safety education materials, visit www.canopsstore.org.

For further information and/or interviews, please contact:

Co-operators 
media@cooperators.ca

NFPA 
Laura King, regional director
lking@nfpa.org

CanOps
Mieka Pittman, VP Enterprise Business Transformation 
mieka.pittman@canops.org

SOURCE The Co-operators Group Limited