Today is International Fire Prevention Day and the Barbados Fire Service (BFS) has issued an appeal to Barbadians to take the threat of house fires more seriously.
Over the last eight years, Barbados has recorded 21 deaths as a result of house fires with three of those deaths occurring this year.
Smoke detectors have been installed by the fire service in the homes of disabled persons.
Acting Chief Fire Officer, Anthony Blackman said yesterday, "The BFS wants to send a message to every house-holder that a simple inexpensive smoke detector could be the difference between life and death in a house fire."
Blackman said there were significant increases in house fires as well as well as fire calls - a worrying sign for the department.
"Up until October 1, 2008, house fires in Barbados moved from 78 to 87, a 12 per cent increase from 2007 fire calls jumped from 2023 to 2434 for the same period last year and these statistics pose a great challenge to our Fire Prevention and Community Relations Unit," Blackman stated.
Station Officer responsible for the Fire Prevention and Community Relations Unit, Wilfred Marshall said that programmes were in place to make the public more aware of the threat of fires.
"We have already started the SAFE programme that targets the primary schools through the Ministry of Education. The RISK WATCH programme targets parents and staff associations in the public day nurseries, the Community Outreach Kitchen Safety programme targets home owners
in the community and the Smoke Detector installation programme has given free detectors to the disabled," Marshall said. (PA)
Source: www.nationnews.com
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