Hot house: Oswego fire, police teach residents about fire safety, police work

A fire can become life threatening in just two minutes.

People attending the joint open house of the Oswego Fire Protection District and Oswego Police Department on Oct. 26 saw how quickly a fire can spread during a live burn demonstration.

As part of the demonstration, two rooms with smoke alarms were set on fire. One room contains a single fire sprinkler, while the adjoining room does not.

Those watching the demonstration saw how rapidly the fire spread in the room without a fire sprinkler. In the room with the fire sprinkler, the fire was suppressed quickly.

Oswego Fire Lt. Joe Johnson, who is the fire protection district’s training officer, said the demonstration shows just how effective sprinkler systems are and how hazardous a fire can be.

“Houses have a lot of plastics in them and those plastics ignite and will help build flashover a lot quicker,” Johnson said.

The Northern Illinois Fire Sprinkler Advisory worked with Chicago area fire departments throughout September and October to present live burn demonstrations at their open house events.

“These demonstrations really illustrate how important it is to have fire safety practiced in our homes,” said Erik Hoffer, executive director of the Northern Illinois Fire Sprinkler Advisory. “Of course, if people can put sprinklers in their homes, that is the ultimate fire protection. Fire sprinklers are going to give us time to escape. We also need the early warning of smoke alarms. We also have to make sure those smoke alarms are working properly. And we also have to make sure we have a well practiced escape plan so families get out safely and the fire department knows they’re out safely when they see them in the front yard.”

The demonstration also showed how fires are more deadly these days because of the type of furniture in people’s homes.

“While it’s nice and soft, it’s all petroleum based plastics and it burns hot, it burns fast and it burns much more toxic,” Hoffer said. “And it’s often the smoke that kills in a fire.”

The main campuses of the Oswego Fire Protection District and the Oswego Police Department are located next to each other on Woolley Road. The open house offered families a variety of activities, including tours of both the police station and the fire station.

Oswego resident Jen Hendrickson and her children watched the burn demonstration.

“We got a really cool video of that too,” she said.

As a real estate broker, Hendrickson knows the importance of fire safety.

“It’s really important to have that knowledge,” she said. “It’s great that they put on a display for the community.”

They also liked touring the police station and the touch-a-truck displays at both the fire and police stations.

“The kids loved meeting Pumper the Fire Pup and McGruff the Crime Dog,” Hendrickson said. “We took our kids here for the first time. We’ve been residents here a few years.”

Her kids also got their faces painted at the event and enjoyed playing in a bounce house.