Officials with the Lake Ozark Fire Protection District and the Village of Four Seasons are looking to prevent structure fires.
The two entities are working to institute a program in which the fire district will inspect multi-family housing complexes, such as condominiums, to seek out fire hazards. Then after the inspections, they would work with the condominium's governing board to train the owners of the individual condo units in fire prevention.
"For instance, we'll actually go out and show homeowners where the best place is to put a fire extinguisher and exactly how to use that extinguisher," said Fire Chief Mark Amsinger at a meeting last week.
Amsinger said creating a fire prevention training program was the result of an idea offered by officials at Water's Edge Condominium.
"They came to us and asked if we offered a program in which members of the governing board as well as the owners of the individual condo units could be trained in fire prevention methods," Amsinger said. "So we approached the Village and asked them to work with us in creating such a program."
Amsinger said while the program is just getting off the ground, it is the fire district's intention to work directly with governing boards of the individual condominium complexes to physically inspect the buildings for fire hazards and train the board members in fire prevention techniques. They would then offer the same inspections and training to the owners of the individual units.
The inspections and the training would be done free of charge, Amsinger said.
"There are half a dozen or so condo complexes within the Village limits," Amsinger said. "We plan to talk with the condo complex boards and set up a time when we would be able come to their meetings and go over how the inspections and training would be done."
Amsinger said one of the reasons fire district officials decided to start the program is because so many of the individual condo unit owners are part-time residents who rent their homes to tourists during the season.
"We've dealt with fires that were started by the weekend renters who were doing things like barbecuing on the deck without having a fire extinguisher nearby," Amsinger said. "In most cases, the person wasn't doing anything wrong; it was just that nobody had been trained in how to take the proper precautions before firing up the grill."
Amsinger said it is the fire district's goal to first institute a program that works specifically with the condo complexes within the Village. However, they would like to gradually expand the program throughout the entire fire district.
"Eventually, we would make the inspections and training available to everyone in our district whether they live in a multi-family apartment complex or a single-family home."
He added, "The program will be on a totally volunteer basis so the homeowners feel totally comfortable calling us for help. Educating the public about fire prevention is much more effective when it's done on a volunteer basis rather than cramming it down their throats."
Amsinger said he is also interested in learning if other Mid-Missouri fire departments have similar programs and, if so, exactly how those programs work.
"I will be sending out emails and contacting other departments to learn as much about their prevention programs as we can," Amsinger said. "Then we'll sit down with the Village and design our program so, hopefully, we can have it up and running within the next few months."