Keeping Safe Cranberry seniors get fire extinguishers, training
More than 50 Cranberry Township senior citizens received free fire extinguishers — and training on how to properly use them — at instructional sessions last week through Cranberry Township Volunteer Fire Company.
The program halps residents ages 65 and older learn more about fire safety.
In previous years, the station has given away smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Because extinguishers are more complicated, the fire company conducted several training sessions.
“When we did the first two, you could hand it to the senior citizens, put it on your ceiling, and you’re good,” said assistant fire safety education coordinator Jack Carney. “With a fire extinguisher, you don’t know how to do it, and so they go home with it and think, ‘Well, I have one,’ and that provides a false sense of security.”
Mary Kane, a fire safety volunteer with the company, said making sure that seniors know how to use the extinguishers and what to do with them when they’re finished is the goal.
“We also get to meet the people we serve,” Kane said. “We have a lot of seniors in Cranberry, and with their taxes they support the fire department. Before we hand them an extinguisher, we want them to know how to use it.”
Kane said fire safety education is a big part of what the station does for the community.
“The first thing we do is put out fires,” she said. “The second is educate.”
Teaching the community
At the training, Carney explained a number of important facts about fire extinguishers, including that most extinguishers expire after 12 years from the date stamped on the bottom, and that used extinguishers should be discharged in water before they are recycled at a metal recycling plant or thrown away.
“The last thing you want to do when there’s a fire is stand there and start reading what to do,” he said.
The training system was operated by propane and battery and gives the seniors a “real-time experience” of putting out a small fire.
Carney explained the extinguishers used in the training are not the same as ones given out for free to the seniors. The training extinguishers use water, whereas the ones to take home include a dry chemical and nitrogen charge, which is more powerful but harder to clean up in a training situation.
“It’s a simulator, but you’re getting an idea of how to use it and when to use it,” Carney said. “If you use it in a situation where you shouldn’t be using it, when the fire is too large, you can get into trouble.”
Appreciative feedback
Carney said that so far, a number of people have shared positive feedback on the program.
“A lot of people are giving us positive comments who have had (extinguishers) but didn’t know how to use them,” Carney said. “People have been very appreciative. They were lined up at 10 minutes until 10, before we even started (on Sept. 13).”
Patty Kokel, who attended the training Thursday, said that she thought the training was a good idea.
“I thought it was a nice thing for them to do, especially for the seniors,” she said. “Showing us is even better because I would be reading the instructions!”
Information about the training was announced at local churches. Cranberry resident Mary Davey said the time and date of the training spread from person to person as well.
“Anything that’s trying to help people, we try and spread it from neighbor to neighbor,” she said.
