To provide a fixing assembly with a stripping off apparatus, and its method.

A fixing assembly includes a fixing member which, during operation, contacts a sheet of print media to fix a marking material to the sheet. A stripping off apparatus applies gas to the sheet to assist in detaching the sheet from the fixing roll. The stripping off apparatus includes a fluid pathway which connects an associated source of pressurized gas with at least one orifice adjacent the fixing member. A pressure sensor detects a pressure of the gas in the fluid pathway intermediate the source and the at least one orifice during operation of the fixing member.