Charlotte Fire and Piedmont Natural Gas Provide Safe Trick-or-Treating
Trick or treating should always be safe for kids. The Charlotte Fire Department (CFD) and Piedmont Natural Gas invite children and their parents to swing by any of the 10 participating fire stations in Charlotte this Saturday, October 30, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., to grab a bag of Halloween goodies from the Charlotte Fire Department (CFD) and Piedmont Natural Gas. You can see more here.
“We are thrilled to host this exciting and safe family-friendly event with Piedmont Natural Gas. We are looking forward to holding a CDC-compliant program for children to still enjoy trick-or-treating this year,” said CFD Sr. Fire Educator Amy Rea.
Wearing masks and gloves, representatives from Piedmont Natural Gas, Charlotte Fire, Charlotte Mecklenburg Police, Charlotte Mecklenburg Firefighters Burned Children Fund, and Safe Kids Charlotte Mecklenburg will maintain social distancing while passing out candy, firefighter hats, and natural gas safety information to kids in vehicles at each participating location.
“Along with massive amounts of candy, we’re giving each kid a retro scratch-and-sniff card to teach them how to recognize the smell of natural gas,” said Piedmont Natural Gas Senior Vice President Sasha Weintraub. “While natural gas leaks are rare, they do happen, and it’s important we all know how to stay safe. Our hope is that kids will scratch the blue flame on these cards, take a good sniff and then remember to immediately let an adult know if they ever smell that unpleasant odor again at home, school, church, or anywhere.”
Piedmont Natural Gas in 2019, launched its Smell gas? Get out fast! campaign to educate its communities on how to recognize the smell of natural gas. Although natural gas has no odor by itself, all utilities, including Piedmont, add a non-toxic chemical known as mercaptan to give it strong and easily recognizable smells.
Each year, nearly 3,000 Americans die from home fires, while CO poisoning claims approximately 450 lives, according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). The NFPA also reports that almost three of every five home fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms (40%) or no smoke alarms that were working (17%). Many of these tragedies could be prevented with the proper placement, number, and maintenance of working alarms.
To learn more about protecting your family from smoke, fire, natural gas, and carbon monoxide, visit www.piedmontng.com/safety.
