An alarm from a smoke detector forced the cautionary evacuation of a Sidney childcare facility Wednesday afternoon.
Sidney Volunteer Fire Department deputy chief Mike Harman said crews responded to the daycare after a smoke detector went off inside the structure. Two trucks from Sidney and one from North Saanich responded to the scene.
“But by the time we got there it was a non-event,” he said. “We found absolutely nothing. I am actually wondering if it picked up something from the outside. We could smell something outside the structure but picked up absolutely nothing inside.”
Harman said the staff as well as an estimated six children evacuated the home. Crews remained on scene for 45 minutes before turning over the house to the homeowner, he added. Harman later added that the children had already evacuated the site when crews arrived four minutes after having received the call.
Naturally, the presence of fire trucks and firefighters did not go unnoticed by children at an impressionable age. While crews did not interact with the children, they were watching from across the street, Harman said.
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“Obviously, for kids, they enjoy seeing the fire trucks and stuff like that,” said Harman. “Also, it’s a little bit tense when smoke detectors go off in the home. But everybody did what they needed to do. Everybody got out of the house.”
Nobody was injured during the incident.
While the cause of the alarm remains a mystery, crews responded by replacing the smoke detector.
Herman recommends routine maintenance of smoke detectors. “Batteries should be changed every six months and detectors should be replaced every 10 years,” he said. “Definitely, if anyone has questions or concerns or they are unable to perform regular maintenance on the detector, they are encouraged to call the fire hall and we will send somebody by to look and check it because a working smoke detector saves lives.”
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