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One of the most important aspects of fighting fires is education - both internal training on fire suppression, and public education in fire and safety awareness.  Below is info on this year’s fire prevention week theme and a history of how fire prevention week started, followed by a few links for fire safety. 

The best life safety device is a smoke detector.  Please make sure you have several in your residence, test them frequently, replace the batteries, and practice fire drills at home.
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Stay Fire Smart! Don’t Get Burned
Testing the water before putting a child in the bath may sound like common sense. Wearing short or close-fitting sleeves when cooking on the stovetop may show foresight. This and other simple actions may be all it takes to prevent devastating burns.

Fire Prevention Week 2009 focuses on burn awareness and prevention, as well as keeping homes safe from the leading causes of home fires.

Reproduced from NFPA's Fire Prevention Week Web site, www.firepreventionweek.org . ©2009 NFPA

Fleetwood Fire Co. Recruitment Drive

at Station 45, located at 16 N. Chestnut St. in Fleetwood.

Sunday Nov. 8th from 10 AM – Noon

We need your help! We are looking for a few good men and women to become volunteers.  Click the icon below for more information.

(Recruitment brochure)

 

Home fire escape:
The time is now to plan and practice it!

Many people and families follow a series of items on a schedule or a to-do list to keep things running smoothly.  Sound familiar?  There is one item that should get top billing on everyone’s list - plan and practice a home fire escape.  This item should be marked “must-do now!”  Whether the list of tasks is posted on the refrigerator door, is a running tally in your head or takes on the form of a reminder that lives in your latest organizer gadget – the time is now to get this item moved to your “done” list. 

Everyone thinks that tragedies like home fires happen in other communities and to other people.  That’s probably what the people affected by the 381,000 home fires that occurred in the United States in 2005 thought too, before it happened to them.  Unlike many things that can get postponed for a day or two with little consequence, planning and practicing your home fire escape simply isn’t one of them. 

According to the National Fire Protection Association, 3,030 were killed in those fires – that’s one person every three hours.  Does preparing for escape still sound like something that can be put off for another day?

As well as being prepared to escape a fire, it is equally important to be vigilant about preventing one from happening in the first place.  Many times there is something that you can do so that a fire doesn’t start fire, like paying attention to what you are cooking, for example.  Cooking is the number one cause of home fires and unattended cooking is the leading cause. The next time you have dinner on the stove and think about leaving the room, think again.  home_escape

If a fire occurs don’t you want to be prepared to escape from it?  If you and your neighbors in Fleetwood have not taken the time to plan and practice your home fire escape plan, unfortunately you are not alone – nationally studies show that only 23% of households have.  This is something that can literally mean the difference between surviving a fire or being the victim of one.

It’s time for the residents of Fleetwood to get ready for the very real possibility that a fire can occur in their home and being prepared to escape from one is extremely important.    

Here’s what you need to do right now:

  • Install a smoke alarm on every level of your home and have one inside each sleep room and outside of each sleeping area. 
  • Test smoke alarms at least once a month.
  • Develop a fire escape plan that identifies two ways out of each room and a family meeting place outside.
  • Make sure your plan allows for any specific needs in your household.  If everyone knows what to do, everyone can get out quickly.
  • Practice using the plan, at least twice a year.  If everyone knows that everyone else is ready to exit quickly, no one will lose precious time trying to help someone who doesn’t need help.
  • Some children and adults may not awaken to the sound of the smoke alarm.  They may need help to wake up.

Don’t let another day go by without planning and practicing your home fire escape plan – you never know when you may need to use it.  And don’t forget once you move it to your “done” list, it is something that should be reviewed and practiced at least twice a year.  

Fire Prevention  History

(See Below for Fire Prevention Links)

The history of National Fire Prevention Week has it roots in the Great Chicago Fire, which  occurred on October 9, 1871. This tragic conflagration killed some 300 people,  left 100,000 homeless and destroyed more than 17,000 structures. The origin of  the fire has generated speculation since its occurrence, with the fact and  fiction becoming blurred over the years. One popular legend has it that Mrs  O'Leary was milking her cow when the animal kicked over a lamp, setting the  O'Leary barn on fire and starting the spectacular blaze. How ever the massive  fire began, it swiftly took its toll, burning more than 2000 acres in 27 hours.  The city of Chicago quickly rebuilt, however, and within a couple of years  residents began celebrating their successful restoration to memorialize the  anniversary of the fire with festivities.

Intending to observe the fire's anniversary with a more serious  commemoration, the Fire Marshals Association of North America (FMANA), the  oldest membership section of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA),  decided that the 40th anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire should be observed  not with festivities, but in a way that would keep the public informed about the  importance of fire prevention.

When President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed the first National Fire Prevention  Week, October 4 - 10 1925, he noted that in the previous year some 15,000 lives  were lost to fire in the United States. Calling the loss "startling", President  Coolidge's proclamation stated, "This waste results from the conditions which  justify a sense of shame and horror; for the greater part of it could and ought  to be prevented... It is highly desirable that every effort be made to reform  the conditions which have made possible so vast a destruction of the national  wealth".

NFPA continues today to make National Fire Prevention Week a priority and  counts on the participation and efforts of tens of thousands of fire and safety  professionals, emergency volunteers, and other individuals working to reduce the  risk of fire and the toll it takes on our society.

Visit the links below to learn more about fire prevention!sparkyok200

For kids:
http://www.nfpa.org/sparky/

General Fire Education
www.firepreventionweek.org.

http://www.nfpa.org/Education/index.asp

Wild Fire Prevention
http://www.smokeybear.com/

 

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