Our Hometown • October 2022

OUR

hometown

Chuck Stansfield Webster City Fire Chief

-Photo by Hans Madsen

Webster City Fire Chief Chuck Stansfield shows off a smoke detector while holding a small fire extinguisher at the fire station. Having working smoke and CO detectors is one of the easiest and most effective steps residents can take to keep them safe.

Complete Florist”

1-800-286-4630

Second Street • Webster City, IA

Webster City Firefighter Capt. Andy Sowle poses by one of their trucks with his turnout gear. While the department is ready to respond quickly to fires, they also spend a lot of time on fire prevention and other safety programs.

Let’s Talk Fire Prevention (And Keep The Trucks In The Station)

There’s a simple overriding fact about many of the fires that the Webster City Fire Department responds to each year.

According to Fire Chief Chuck Stansfield, they didn’t have to happen.

“Most of the fires we roll on can be prevented,” he said.

The causes of those blazes vary.

He said one common source is unattended cooking. The consequences can range from burned food and a house full of smoke to an inferno fed by cooking oils that got hot enough to ignite.

Smoking materials are another common source of ignition. It can be a cigarette container that’s too full, a smoker falling asleep with a lit cigarette, or even children getting ahold of lighters or matches.

Electrical issues are another common cause.

“We see that a lot,” he said.

Those can range from too many things plugged into a single outlet, frayed extension cords, defective appliances, space heaters, and nonprofessional electrical work that doesn’t meet building codes.

But wait, there’s more.

“Once past those, there’s candles.”

Does that mean your home is a flammable death trap ready to burst into flames at the slightest provocation? Of course not. By following some common sense precautions, it can stay as safe as it should be.

Story & Photos

By HANS MADSEN

Webster City Firefighter

Capt. Andy Sowle demonstrates how easy it is to install or check on a smoke detector. Each level of a home as well as each sleeping area should have a working detector and homes with gas appliances should have a working CO detector.

Stansfield said that his department uses the Four Es to help keep the community safe. Those are Engage, Educate, Encourage and Enforce.

“We reach out to the community to make sure they have working smoke and CO detectors,” he said. “If they need one, we’re only a phone call away. We’ll install them. It’s free.”

Besides alerting the occupants of a home to the fire and allowing them time to escape, the detectors also sense a fire much sooner than it might otherwise have been noticed.

“Any fire can be held to a smaller level,” he said. “That’s really the first line of defense.”

That’s especially true with the CO detectors. “CO is the hidden enemy of any home with gas appliances,” he said. “It’s odorless and colorless. By the time they have symptoms, they’re going downhill fast.”

Education includes several aspects such as the engagement with the detectors, doing home safety surveys at the homeowners’ request to check for proper detector installation, and various hazards, both fire and others, such as tripping hazards.

Education for the department also means participating in Fire Prevention Week. During that week, which is Oct. 9 to 15, members of the department visit Webster City’s schools to talk about fire safety.

“We tell them about having a family meeting place and other key aspects of fire safety,” Stansfield said. “We want to get the young on-board with fire safety.”

The WCFD hosted an open house on Oct. 11 with an open invitation to the entire community. On the schedule, a smoke house, live fire demonstration, extinguisher training, stop drop and roll practice, water flow out of a real fire hose, and a bounce house.

“It’s a good night, it really is,” he said.

There’s something for the adults too; groups of people can learn more about keeping their homes safe.

Stansfield said that the No. 1 thing people can do to keep safe is making sure they have detectors, that they work, and that they’re located properly.

“Minimally, you need one on every level and also one in each sleeping area of the home,” he said.

Secondly, he recommends that people keep up with any recalls that may have been issued on their appliances and devices.

This is something that’s becoming more common. The simplest way to do this is to actually mail in the warranty card so if something is wrong, the manufacturer can notify you.

And then, there’s the no-brainer: “Don’t overload your plug-ins. It creates a lot of heat.”

Unattended candles can also easily start a house fire. Stansfield said he understands that during the holiday season, those candles provide pleasant scents and can make the room cozy, but there are other alternatives.

“If you do burn candles, they need to be blown out every time you leave the room,” he said. “There are lots of alternatives for a pleasant smell that are safer.”

The Christmas tree can also be an ignition source, particularly a real tree. Those need to be kept watered.

The lights should only be lit when someone is in the room, and it’s a good idea to keep a fire extinguisher nearby, just in case. Those lights should also be inspected for any fraying, loose bulbs or exposed wires.

Another alternative is to replace old bulb-type strings with new LED strings. Those operate at much lower temperatures. Another hazard that can and has started fires around Christmas trees are pets chewing on the wires.

Storing flammable liquids such as gasoline, grill lighter fluid, paint thinners or oils can be a hazard too. Some of those produce highly flammable vapors that can easily be ignited by gas appliances or even a spark. These are a particular hazard if they’re stored in an attached garage.

Note: A fire that starts in a garage will eventually spread into the home.

Stansfield said that any area where flammables are stored needs to be properly ventilated. A detached shed outside is best.

“Have a way for the vapors to get out,” he said. “Good air in; bad air out. Sheds that are detached are a great way to keep your flammable items out of the attached garage.”

Some hobbies and arts that might be practiced in the home can also be a source of ignition.

For example, woodworking produces flammable sawdust. Model building can use solvent-based glues and paints. Ammunition reloading involves gunpowder and primers. Even something as relaxing as oil painting can involve both toxic paint pigments and mediums such as linseed oil that can self-ignite.

“The key is good housekeeping,” Stansfield said. “Make sure potential fire fuel doesn’t get knocked over, and keep it away from a source of ignition. Make sure you look into and understand the safe practices with whatever you’re working with.”

Then there’s the approaching fireplace season.

For those burning wood, he said that it’s important to make sure the fireplace is in good condition and the chimney is cleaned regularly.

“The creosote in that will build up to a point where it catches fire,” he said.

Homeowners also need to make sure they understand exactly how their fireplace works. Most have a damper or flue that can be opened or closed. If a fire is started with the flue closed the home will quickly fill with smoke.

Proper disposal of the ashes is also important. Glowing embers can easily hide in ashes and, if placed in a garbage can, could ignite other materials or, even in the case of the newer plastic garbage bins, the can itself.

Along with those cozy fireplace evenings, it’s also the time of the year when many will enjoy a nice bonfire in their firepit that’s at least 25 feet from any inhabited space or on your home's wood deck.

There’s a very wrong way to light that fire.

“DO NOT use fuel such as gasoline,” Stansfield warned. “It’s extremely dangerous. We’ve had multiple calls where someone used gasoline. It goes real bad, really fast.”

Most safely comes down to using common sense and thinking through what might happen if something goes wrong.

“So much of what occurs is preventable with a little common sense,” Stansfield said.

To underscore the above, Stansfield said the Webster City Fire Department is sending postcards to the community encouraging people to make sure their house number is visible. Those numbers aren’t just for the delivery guy to bring your Amazon stuff.

“It’s important for us to be able to get to the right house,” Stansfield said. “That’s whether it’s us, the police, or EMS.”

Know 2 ways out.

fuego no espera. Planifica tu escape. El fuego no espera.

Planifica tu escape.

Punto de Encuentro

How to make a

Home Fire Escape PlanHome Fire Escape Plan

Draw a map of your home. Show all doors and windows.

Visit each room. Find two ways out.

All windows and doors should open easily. You should be able to use them to get outside.

Make sure your home has smoke alarms. Push the test button to make sure each alarm is working.

Pick a meeting place outside. It should be in front of your home. Everyone will meet at the meeting place.

Make sure your house or building number can be seen from the street.

Talk about your plan with everyone in your home.

Make sure everyone in your home knows how to dial 911 or your local emergency number. Practice your home fire drill!

Make your own home fire escape plan using the grid provided on page 2.

Sample Escape Plan

WINDOWWINDOW

Sparky® is a trademark of NFPA®. ©NFPA 2022

Visit Sparky.org for more activities!

WINDOW

WINDOW

CLOSET

plan de evacuación por planincendio de evacuación por incendio Cómo realizar un

Visita Sparky.org para mas actividades!

Dibuje un mapa de su hogar. Incluya todas las puertas y ventanas.

Revise cada habitación. Encuentre dos salidas.

Todas las puertas y ventanas deben abrirse fácilmente. Debe poder utilizarlas para salir.

Asegúrese de que haya alarmas de humo en su hogar. Presione el botón para asegurarse de que las alarmas funcionen correctamente.

Escoja un punto de encuentro en el exterior. Deberá estar en frente de su hogar. Todos se reunirán en el punto de encuentro.

Asegúrese de que el número de su hogar o edificio pueda verse desde la calle.

Comente el plan de evacuación con todos los integrantes de su hogar.

Memorice el número de emergencia del departamento de bomberos.

¡Practique el simulacro de evacuación por incendio!

Realice su propio plan de evacuación por incendio utilizando la cuadrícula proporcionada en la página 2.

Plan de escape de muestra

VENTANAVENTANA

DESCANSO

CITY SCENECITY SCENE

PROTECT YOUR WATER METER

Winter weather is near and the City of Webster City would like to remind our utility customers to protect their water meters to avoid a disruption of water service and a bill to replace the meter (the meter is the customer’s responsibility).

As you are weatherproofing your home for the upcoming cold months, please remember to check your meter as well. If your water meter is in an unheated or minimally heated area such as a crawl space, under a trailer, in a basement or garage, it is likely to freeze when the temperatures get below freezing.

A few tips to help prevent the meter or water lines from freezing:

• Cover your meter and/or water lines with insulated heat blankets or wrap with electrical heat tape (both hot & cold-water lines can freeze)

• Close crawl space vents and openings

• Repair broken or cracked windows in the vicinity of the meter

• If the meter is in a cabinet that is against an outside wall, opening the doors to the cabinet to let heat in may help reduce the chance of freezing

If you do not have water on a cold day and think your pipes are frozen you will need to call a plumber or try to thaw the lines. Prior to thawing, make sure you know where your shut-off valve is in your home in case the pipe would break. If you believe your water meter is frozen, call the Utility Office during business hours from 8:00-5:00 Monday-Friday. A meter technician will assess the situation and replace the water meter. The customer will only be responsible for the cost of the meter during regular business hours.

Customers will need to call the non-emergency Police Department phone number (515-832-9166) after 5:00 p.m. or on weekends and holidays to have the meter technician paged out. Although our technicians are on call 24 hours, the customer will be responsible for paying any OT charges, in addition to the meter replacement.

LOW-INCOME HOME ENERGY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (LIHEAP)

If your household is having difficulty in making utility payments you may qualify for LIPHEAP. The application period begins on November 1st at the UDMO (Upper Des Moines) Office located at 1610 Collins Street or calling 515-832-6451. Once qualified, the utility that is the homes heat source is paid directly, typically this would be gas but some accounts have electric heat. The applicant is protected from electric shut-off during the moratorium period of November 1 – April 1.

LIHEAP qualified customers are not required to make payments towards the electric portion of their utility bill during the moratorium, however the remaining charges are required to prevent water shutoff. The electricity used is still metered and billed and will come due when the moratorium is over.

CITY SCENE

ELECTRIC SHUT-OFF POLICY DURING WINTER MONTHS

Shut-offs of electricity for non-LIHEAP customers will not occur if the weather is forecasted to be 20 degrees Fahrenheit or colder within a 24-hour period. Delivery slips will still be sent out and the account can be disconnected for non-payment when the weather warms up.

If you cannot make your payment by the due date, a promise to pay for a future date can prevent the $35.00 delivery slip charge. The call needs to be made no more than 12 days after receiving your bill to ensure it is prior to delivery slips being generated and delivered to the residence/business.

GENERAL SHUT-OFF PROCEDURE

We have received calls from residents that have been contacted by someone pretending to be Webster City Municipal Utilities with the threat to shut off within a short amount of time if payment is not made. Webster City’s disconnection process:

Cycle 1

Cycle 2 Bill generated/mailed 15th of the month 25th of the month

Due date in the following month 10th of the month 20th of the month

12-day notices mailed if not paid 11th of the month 21st of the month

Disconnect notices are delivered on Thursday’s and are posted on the door. If a holiday is on Thursday, they will be sent out on Wednesday. The shut-off day is the following Tuesday morning with Utility Office staff making a courtesy phone call on Monday, reminding the customer that shut-off will be the next morning if payment is not received by 8:00 a.m.

Webster City does not ever call a customer with the threat of shut-off within a few hours or demand payment be made over the phone. The only phone call staff makes to the customer for non-payment disconnection is the day before the scheduled shut-off and will typically be on a Monday. If ever in question, call the Utility Office at 515-832-9141.

PAYMENT METHODS

Customers can pay at the window, drop off at the night drop box located on the west side of the Municipal Building at 400 2nd Street, mail or use Bill Pay through your bank. Customers can establish their own account with Xpress Bill Pay to have the ability to pay with a credit/debit card or e-check. Our customer service staff can also process these online payments using a card or e-check.

LET’S EAT

Our Hometown Recipe Corner

Transform salads for fall dining

Who says salads are just for summertime?

Now that hot and humid days have given way to the crisp evenings of fall, it’s time to tweak lunch and dinner menus accordingly. Even though soups and stews are the norm this time of year, salads can have their menu moments as well. What better way to usher in fall than with a seasonal staple like apples?

Juicy and tart apples add crunch to this spinach-based salad. The addition of nuts and cheese also enhance the sweet-salty appeal of “Double-Apple Spinach Salad,” while also offering up plenty of fiber, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Try this easy recipe, courtesy of “The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook” (Rockridge Press) from the editors of Rockridge University Press.

Double-Apple Spinach Salad

Serves 4

8 cups baby spinach

1 medium Granny Smith apple, diced

1 medium red apple, diced

1⁄2 cup toasted walnuts

2 ounces low-fat, sharp white cheddar cheese, cubed

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar

Toss the spinach, apples, walnuts, and cubed cheese together. Lightly drizzle olive oil and vinegar over the top and serve.

LANDMARKS

How well DO YOU know Hamilton County?

Look at these photos and see if you can identify these local landmarks.

WINNER-WINNER:

September Answers:

Photo #1 Mulberry Center Church, at Wilson Brewer Park, looking from Ohio Street at the north side of the church.

Marilyn Meneses

Photo # 2 Announcer’s box on the Lynx football field behind (west side) of the high school

Submit your entry

PASSES

Photo #2

Please include the name of the building icon on which the Landmark is located, your name & phone number. Submit your entry to jcurtis@freemanjournal.net or deliver to The Daily Freeman-Journal at 720 Second St., Webster City, IA

SAVVY SENIOR by Jim Miller

Free Online Hearing Tests You Can Take at Home

Dear Savvy Senior ,

Can you recommend any good online hearing tests? My husband has hearing loss, but I can’t get him to go in and get his hearing checked, so I thought a simple online test could help him recognize he has a problem. What can you tell me?

LindaTalking

Dear Linda,

There’s actually a growing number of very good online and app-based hearing tests available that will let your husband check his hearing on his own. These tests are a quick and convenient option for the millions of Americans that have mild to moderate hearing loss but often ignore it, or don’t want to go through the hassle or expense of visiting an audiologist for a hearing exam

Who Should Test?

Hearing loss for most people develops gradually over many years of wear and tear, which is the reason many people don’t realize they actually have a hearing problem.

Anyone who has difficulty hearing or understanding what people say, especially in noisier environments or over the phone. Or, if you need a higher volume of music or TV than other people, should take a few minutes to test their hearing.

Self-Hearing Tests

Online and app-based hearing tests can serve as a great screening tool. They are not meant to be a diagnosis, but rather to give you an idea of how bad your hearing loss is and what can be done about it.

For most do-it-yourself hearing tests, you’ll be advised to wear ear headphones or earbuds and sit in a quiet spot.

You also need to know that there are two different type of tests available. One type is known as pure-tone testing, where tones are played in decreasing volumes to determine your specific level of hearing loss. And the other type is known as speech-in-noise or digits-in-noise (DIN) where you’ll be asked to identify words, numbers, or phrases amid background noise.

Where to Test

If your husband uses a smartphone or tablet, two of my favorite app-based hearing tests are the hearWHO app created by the World Health Organization, and the Mimi Hearing Test app. Both apps are free to use and are available through the App Store and Google Play.

HearWHO allows users to check their hearing status and monitor it over time using a DIN test, while Mimi uses puretone and masked threshold tests to give you a detailed picture of your hearing abilities.

There are also a wide variety of online hearing tests your husband can take on a computer.

Some top online tests – all offered by hearing aid manufacturers – for speech-in-noise or DIN tests can be accessed at ReSound (resound.com/en-us/online-hearingtest) and Mircle Ear (miracle-ear.com/online-hearing-test).

And some good online hearing tests for pure-tone testing are available by Signia (signia.net/en/service/hearing-test); Ergo (eargo.com/hearing-health/hearing-check); and MD Hearing Aid (mdhearingaid.com/hearing-test).

All of these hearing tests are completely free to use and take less than five minutes to complete.

What to do with Results

If the tests indicate your husband has hearing loss, it’s best to think of that as a starting point. He should take results to his doctor or an audiologist for further evaluation.

Many insurance providers and Medicare Advantage plans cover routine hearing exams, however original Medicare does not.

If his hearing loss is mild to moderate, he should look into the new over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids, which are available this fall online and at retailers like Best Buy, Walgreens and CVS.

OTC hearing aids don’t require a prescription or medical examination for purchase and they’re much more affordable than traditional hearing aids you buy through an audiologist or a licensed hearing instrument specialist.

to

Senior, P.O. Box

OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.org

Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of “The Savvy Senior” book.

PeTpix

Loved by Jane Curtis

Parting SHOT