Ontario Fire Chiefs and Electricians/Contractors Team Up to Promote Safety

May 13, 2019

The Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs (OAFC) has teamed up with the Electrical Contractors Association of Ontario (ECAO) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Construction Council of Ontario (IBEW CCO) to laiunch a new campaign.

This month, two commercials will be running on major television networks and promoted through social media as part of a campaign to raise awareness about the importance of hiring a certified electrician and ensuring the public maintains working smoke alarms in their homes.

“We’re so excited to be working with ECAO and IBEW,” says OACF president Fire Chief Cynthia Ross Tustin. “It’s a collaboration of experts.”

Listen to the Chief – Don’t Trust this Guy

Instead of citing statistics about the number of deaths and homes destroyed from electrical fires, the first commercial kicks off in a basement. A handyman assures the audience you don’t need to hire an electrician as he does electrical work like this “all the time.”

As the camera focuses on the botched job, the wall opens up into a fire hall, where Chief Tustin marches in to warn the audience.

“Do you want to trust your home and your family’s safety to this guy? Always call a certified electrician so you don’t have to call us,” she says.

“Ontario’s fire chiefs were the ideal partners for this campaign. because they see the tragic results from house fires,” says Sherri Haigh, who led the campaign on behalf of the ECAO and IBEW CCO. “Our IBEW electricians and ECAO contractors put a high priority on ensuring that work is done safely and correctly: we have the same concerns about public safety.”

Many people think that even small rewiring jobs can be completed by a jack-of-all-trades contractor or through a DIY video, saving them money in the process. But improper rewiring and installations can lead to devastating and tragic electrical fires, said Richard Boyes, Executive Director of OAFC “One fire due to improper electrical work is one too many,” he added.

Keeping batteries in smoke alarms at all times

The second commercial takes place in a kitchen and captures the all-too-often circumstance where a smoke alarm goes off in the house due to burnt toast or another cooking mishap.

“Unfortunately, many homeowners respond to that noise by taking the batteries out while they finish cooking: but then they neglect to put them back in. Should a real fire occur, that smoke alarm won’t be working,” said Chief Tustin. “It’s something we see every day and want to prevent,” she added.

This article was first published online by Powering Communities.owering Communities.