Following National Fire Prevention Week last week, local fire departments are reinforcing vital safety messages to ensure community members stay prepared throughout the year. Fire Chief Dan Roghair of the Orange City Fire Department and Fire Chief Dave Van Holland of the Sioux Center Fire Department recently shared insights on common fire hazards, home preparedness, and upcoming community initiatives.
Year-Round Prevention
While Fire Prevention Week provides a helpful calendar reminder, safety must remain a constant priority. Chief Roghair stresses the importance of routine maintenance, such as checking smoke detector batteries and properly servicing fire extinguishers.
“Well, we call it fire Prevention Week, but really, I mean, we draw attention to it, but it has to be something that has to be conscious all year long. I mean, um, it’s great that we do that. I think the best reason for Fire Prevention Week is for people to check their batteries on smoke detectors, um, making sure that, uh, they have fresh batteries as well as any fire extinguishers they have.”
Chief Van Holland echoes these sentiments in Sioux Center, emphasizing that basic safety habits, like changing smoke detector batteries with the time change and practicing home escape plans, save lives.
“Well, one of them is to make sure your smoke detectors and batteries are changed, you know, and stuff. And, uh, a lot of things like that, um, checking the batteries and every, every time the time changes, you should change up how batteries. Um, and, uh, so, uh, and also have an escape route, you know, in order to get out of the house, you know, is, very wise also. And, uh, yeah, make sure your children know how to call nine hundred eleven and know your address.”
Common Fire Risks in the Home
Both chiefs point out that kitchen appliances like ovens, microwaves, and stovetops remain leading causes of residential fires, often due to unattended cooking or distractions. In addition, Chief Roghair highlights an emerging risk associated with modern electronics.
“Home fires predominantly are kind of probably, I would say two categories. Number one is probably cooking… But, uh, in a close second. And I think maybe even overtaking that is all the electrical equipment and stuff that we have i.e battery chargers… and it’s just a great reminder, um, just if we’re gonna have those types of devices, only plug them in and charge them until they’re full.”
Chief Van Holland also warns against leaving burning candles unattended, noting that candle-related incidents remain a frequent concern.
New Sioux Center Training Facility
Both departments celebrated Fire Prevention Week by connecting directly with the public. Orange City hosted an open house featuring family-friendly activities and fire safety education. Similarly, the Sioux Center Fire Department held an open house featuring a hamburger feed to kick off fundraising efforts for a brand-new training facility.
Sioux Center Chief Van Holland lays out why this new facility is critical for training modern volunteer firefighters.
“We used to burn a lot of houses and train inside those houses. When we burned them down and we don’t have that capability anymore. So being able to train in a training facility where you can control the heat and, uh, and, uh, fill it with smoke and, and, uh, make it a maze, you know, uh, different configurations inside the training facility and, uh, day after day and week after week, uh, every month or whatever, we might be able to do it in all kinds of conditions instead of waiting for a house to burn down.”
Both departments encourage community members to stop by their local fire stations, meet volunteer firefighters, and get involved in emergency services.
