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To coincide with Fire Prevention Week, Albert Lea Fire Rescue will host an open house Oct. 14 on Newton Avenue to bring in residents of all ages and teach them about how to prevent fires.

The open house includes live demonstrations with the firefighters about how they respond to a fire.

There will also be a fire spray house that has flames in the windows in which children can use an actual fire hose to knock down the flames, said Deputy Fire Chief Jeff Laskowske.

Other children’s activities include an agility challenge, bounce house and a story time. Sparky the big Dalmation will also be on hand, and people can check out all of the different trucks, he said.

In addition, one of the unique things this year will be a thermal imaging demonstration that shows how the department is able to use the equipment to find people in the event of heavy smoke.

Laskowske said though they have many different activities for children, fire prevention is important for all ages.

“It’s very important,” he said. “It doesn’t really matter what age it is.”

He noted the leading cause of house fires is cooking fires and that despite all of the education that is done on the subject, people still don’t always take all of the necessary precautions when cooking, including watching what they’re cooking and setting timers, among others.

“Fire prevention is vastly important,” he said. “We want to stop the fire before it even starts.”

Educating about fire prevention is something the department focuses on year-round, but the open house is a good time to try to reach even more people both with and without children.

“Accidents do happen, but 99% of our fires are preventable,” he said. “It’s trying to understand it can happen in any household.”

The open house will be from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the station, mainly in the apparatus bay as well as a meeting room inside the station. He said tours of the station will not be given out this year at the event, but if people want to schedule one, someone with the department could take them on a tour at a different time.

Laskowske also talked about the importance of checking smoke detectors and remembering to change their batteries when they go to change their clocks this fall. He said older smoke detectors should have their batteries changed out every six months.

Smoke detectors 10 years or older should be replaced all together, and carbon monoxide detectors should be replaced every seven years.

“Early notification can save lives,” he said.

He encouraged people to get photoelectric detectors instead of ionizing ones. They have more capabilities.

The alarms themselves should be inside bedrooms and outside of bedrooms within 10 feet. There should also be at least one other smoke detector on every level. They aren’t recommended in furnace rooms or closets and in the kitchen.