Jason Teakle
BRANT NEWS

Jordan Morgan says the threat of fire hits a bit too close to home.

“The house I’m living in now had a fire in the past,” Morgan said. “There was major damage and the whole second floor was gone.

“Anyone can be a victim of fire.”

Morgan made the comment during an event marking Fire Prevention Week on Saturday afternoon in Harmony Square attended by about 500 people.

The event featured a timed 27,000-pound fire truck pull competition, fire combat demonstrations, ladder rescue demonstrations, cooking safety lessons and an opportunity to build model fire trucks.

Brantford Fire Department Chief Jeff McCormick said many fires should never happen.

“The reality is that most fires are preventable,” McCormick said. “The key messages are to make sure you have working smoke alarms on all levels of your residence, plan and practice an escape plan and make sure you have two ways out.

“There are a lot of activities here that bring awareness to both fire prevention and the fire department.”

Event organizer and Brantford fire prevention officer Remo Sambartolo said it is important to engage the community in relation to fire safety.

“We wanted to bring it downtown because we want to be a part of its revitalization,” Sambartolo said. “We hope people learned a bit about fire safety. This is a great way to incorporate fire safety with bringing people out to have some fun.”

The fire truck pull competition garnered impressive support, Sambartolo said.

“Eighteen teams ended up registering this year,” he said. “The response was incredible.”

City resident Shane Hill said he attended to watch family members compete in the truck pull competition.

“This brings the community together and I learned more about fire safety and smoke alarms,” Hill said. “There are a lot of fires around here and it is good there are many people supporting an event like this.”

The truck pull featured a friendly rivalry between a team of Brantford police officers and a team of Brantford firefighters facing off to achieve the best time.

The firefighters won with a time of 38:06 seconds, only slightly faster than the team of police officers.