50 Percent Reduction In Fires This Year
There has been a 50 per cent reduction in all types of fires from 2008 to 2009 for the period ending on June 3. This information was revealed by Sub Officer, Henderson Patrick of the Barbados Fire Service (BFS) yesterday in an interview with the Barbados Advocate.
He stated that at this time last year there were 1211 fires overall, whereas there were about 1102 for the same period this year.
In terms of structural fires – private dwelling houses, they have had about four or five fires in the last couple of days in areas such as Mason Hall Street and Shorey Village and it appears as though “we are having a spike in structural fires. However, in the overall context of fires, we are actually down”.
Last year for this same period there were 55 structural fires and for this year they have responded to 41. As for sugar cane fires, there has been 67 fewer fires now than they had last year, “which is a significant reduction in that particular category,” said Patrick. Last year, there were 173 fires and this year there were 106 fires for the same time period.
Meanwhile, there has also been a 50 per cent reduction in grass fires. There were 1293 of these fires last year and they have had around 544 so far. He said that most of the grass fires are caused by the careless actions of people such as when people are burning in their backyard with no measure of control in place, such as a garden hose in case things get out of control and therefore when the wind blows, it takes the fire and deposits it in another area and then they cannot get that under control, said Patrick.
He attributes the decrease in fires to the work of the Fire Prevention Unit (FPU), who has conducted various fire prevention programmes, as well as the general public who are becoming more fire safety conscious as they are listening to what others have to say about keeping their properties safe as well as paying more attention to investing in their properties.
However, he stated that the “BFS does not want to rest on our laurels and say that we are gaining ground only to have it eroded by people becoming careless and people not following the simple instructions and principles that we have issued to them”.
Accordingly, Patrick advises persons to unplug all electrical items before they leave the house especially things like irons and to ensure that they have turned off the stove.
He adds that the kitchen is the “highest risk area in the house. It constantly has open flame. Sometimes people – because they can’t do better – store their liquid petroleum gas (LPG) bottle in the house. It has a variety of electrical items that people use inside of it”.
He advised persons to be careful when using these items by not having too many of them plugged in at the same time, especially if they in the same plug or circuit.
Source: www.barbadosadvocate.com
He stated that at this time last year there were 1211 fires overall, whereas there were about 1102 for the same period this year.
In terms of structural fires – private dwelling houses, they have had about four or five fires in the last couple of days in areas such as Mason Hall Street and Shorey Village and it appears as though “we are having a spike in structural fires. However, in the overall context of fires, we are actually down”.
Last year for this same period there were 55 structural fires and for this year they have responded to 41. As for sugar cane fires, there has been 67 fewer fires now than they had last year, “which is a significant reduction in that particular category,” said Patrick. Last year, there were 173 fires and this year there were 106 fires for the same time period.
Meanwhile, there has also been a 50 per cent reduction in grass fires. There were 1293 of these fires last year and they have had around 544 so far. He said that most of the grass fires are caused by the careless actions of people such as when people are burning in their backyard with no measure of control in place, such as a garden hose in case things get out of control and therefore when the wind blows, it takes the fire and deposits it in another area and then they cannot get that under control, said Patrick.
He attributes the decrease in fires to the work of the Fire Prevention Unit (FPU), who has conducted various fire prevention programmes, as well as the general public who are becoming more fire safety conscious as they are listening to what others have to say about keeping their properties safe as well as paying more attention to investing in their properties.
However, he stated that the “BFS does not want to rest on our laurels and say that we are gaining ground only to have it eroded by people becoming careless and people not following the simple instructions and principles that we have issued to them”.
Accordingly, Patrick advises persons to unplug all electrical items before they leave the house especially things like irons and to ensure that they have turned off the stove.
He adds that the kitchen is the “highest risk area in the house. It constantly has open flame. Sometimes people – because they can’t do better – store their liquid petroleum gas (LPG) bottle in the house. It has a variety of electrical items that people use inside of it”.
He advised persons to be careful when using these items by not having too many of them plugged in at the same time, especially if they in the same plug or circuit.
Source: www.barbadosadvocate.com
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