ABOVE: Raul Valdez speaks to Kathy and Rex Wohlhuter at the Summit Fire Protection’s Free Fire Extinguisher Check event on Tuesday in Fairmont.

FAIRMONT – Local officials are spreading the word on fire and fire safety as part of the national Fire Prevention Week.

Fairmont Assistant Fire Chief Colby Whitmore said some fires are more common than others in this area.

“We have a lot of rural fires for buildings,” he said, “Obviously, your normal residential house fires, apartment fires, things like that. Cooking is a big ignition source for a lot of them. Recently, lithium-ion batteries are another big one that we’ve been seeing a lot of.”

‘A lot’ is relative, as on average, Whitmore said they see around 10 to 15 large-scale fires in a given year. During this fall season heading into winter, Whitmore said rural-type fires are more common.

“People have to get creative with warming spaces that typically aren’t warm during the summer,” he said. “There’s not really a huge influx one way or the other.”

Whitmore said when it comes to fighting fires, there’s one way the Fairmont Fire Department is unique.

“Our department has a township agreement where we cover a lot of the rural areas around us, so we have a large fire district,” he said.

With the weather getting colder, Whitmore said there are a few things people must check on.

“We really push to have working smoke detectors,” he said. “We want those on every level of the house and every room, if possible. The big one for winter is obviously a CO2 detector, because we’re running furnaces more often, space heaters, things like that.”

When it comes to what he does in his own home, Whitmore said there are several ways he keeps himself and his family prepared.

“It’s having the right tools in place,” he said. “Having fire extinguishers or fire blankets readily available in the kitchen area is a big one. Having a fire plan for you and your family and talk about it, and actually do fire drills at home.”

Working fires has changed dramatically due to changes in general consumer products and their use of synthetics and other materials, according to Whitmore. While it used to be an average of 10 minutes for people to evacuate a home, it’s now around three to five. With any size fire, Whitmore said the first thing people should do is call 911.

“If a fire starts, make sure everyone’s out,” he said. Our role and responsibility is then to show up. “If we can put it out with a fire extinguisher, great. If we’ve got to pull hose off the truck, that’s what we’ll do. We want to ensure you guys are safe and everybody’s out and not getting injured, trying to do it yourself.”

Tuesday brought a new event to Fairmont’s Fire Prevention Week. Summit Fire Protection out of Mankato offered free fire extinguisher inspections in the Five Lakes Centre Mall parking lot. Fire Suppression Manager Ralph Thoren said Summit is in Fairmont quite often for work, and they wanted to give back to the community.

“People bring them in, we’ll look at them, tell them what they got,” he said. “If they’re any good, we’ll tag them up for them. If it’s for commercial and it needs to be replaced, we’ll let them know what they need. This is a way where, once a year, we can come out, get rid of [our] truck fees, educate. That’s the main thing we’re trying to do, teach people how to use fire extinguishers.”

Just in the first 10 minutes of the event, Thoren said he had three daycares bring their extinguishers in for inspection and potential swap-out.

This is the first time Summit has done a program like this, also appearing in St. Peter and Northfield. When broached with the idea, Thoren said he knew Fairmont had to be a part of it.

“I grew up in Fairmont,” he said. I moved here when I was in kindergarten. Graduated here, and so it was the first town that I picked. So it means a lot.”

Thoren and Whitmore both teach people to use fire extinguishers using the PASS acronym.

“That is pulling of the pin, aim, squeeze the top handle and sweep at the base of the fire,” Whitmore said. “That’s your general practice for fire extinguishers.”

Overall, Thoren said they got a good reception for their event.

“It’s been nice because you don’t know when you set up, if you’re going to get people to come out here or not,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of people come up and stop in and visit, and it’s been a really nice give and take of information so far.”