Following a long Thanksgiving weekend, Weyburn firefighters are participating in Fire Prevention Week. It's an annual, nationwide week of recognition and awareness for the danger fires possess.

Here in Weyburn, firefighters will be in the community and in schools this week. Each year has a different theme, and this year is one of education. 

"The campaign theme for this year is 'Look, Listen and Learn,'" said Fire Chief Simon Almond. "Look for places fires can start, listen for the sound of a smoke alarm, and learn two ways out of every room."

Using the Look, Listen and Learn mentality, fire crews will be in classrooms in the city and working with young students.   

"Starting today [October 9] our career staff are out doing school fire education visits. This year we're focusing on grade two, so we'll visit every grade two class throughout this week. We'll have our fire safety trailer there and we'll be talking about the 'Look, Listen and Learn' capabilities and also general fire safety," Almond explained. "It's all about fire prevention and safety and making sure we can get these people out of a fire. They know what to do if there is a fire, how to call 9-1-1 and what to do if a smoke alarm sounds, home escape planning and things like that."

Aside from school visits, firefighters will also be in a random community on Thursday night. They haven't decided where yet, but Almond and his colleagues will be knocking on doors to talk about fire safety and prevention. They'll also be offering smoke alarm tests and will have batteries or brand new smoke detectors if need be.  

The grand finale is going down on Saturday afternoon from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Almond says everyone is welcome to come check out the festivities. 

"The public is more than welcome to come down to the fire station and we'll have fire demonstrations and talk about fire safety. They can look at the fire trucks and talk to the firefighters. We're also going to be starting our recruitment campaign for new paid, on-call firefighters," he said. 

It's a jam-packed, but an important week for the Fire Department says Fire Chief Almond.

"It's a busy week, this year especially seems to be a busy week. It's unfortunate it only happens once a year, however, we encourage people to think about fire safety year round. It's a danger that never goes away."