By Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


It’s National Fire Prevention Week and Livingston County residents are being encouraged to serve up fire safety in the kitchen.

The Brighton Area Fire Authority has turned the week into a virtual event with crews interacting on social media and uploading new videos on home safety tips every day that are around 90-seconds. Chief Mike O’Brian says he thinks most fire departments in Livingston County have canceled typical activities such as open houses in light of the pandemic but have been trying to do things to still engage people through social media and other avenues. The theme of Fire Prevention Week this year is related to cooking fires.

O’Brian tells WHMI cooking fires are up across the United States, noting many people are home more and thus cooking more. He says they’ve loaded a lot of great resources on the department’s YouTube channel, social media and website that offer discussion points to talk through with families at dinner or while cooking or share lessons with kids that are learning from home in many cases. A link to the department's Facebook page is provided.

O’Brian said he appreciates all of the works from staff to continue to try and share the message. In general, he said call volume is a little lighter than normal - mostly because traffic up until this point was relatively light. However, O’Brian says home related incidents are definitely up in most of Livingston County and he reminds that now is the time to practice extra care as it relates to cooking at home. O’Brian further stressed the importance of having working smoke alarms.

More information about National Fire Prevention Week can be found online at www.nfpw.org.