NATIONAL FIRE PREVENTION WEEK
Pinellas
Suncoast Fire & Rescue is looking for partners who will reach
out to their loved ones, neighbors, and yes, those with whom they have
differences, to alert them to be prepared for that dreaded enemy, FIRE!
How better to protect them than with the silent partner who is always
watching over you, ready to call your attention to the fact that a fire
may be occurring, “come check immediately.” All your silent partner
needs is a new battery to keep it alive. To make certain this occurs, we
have captured the phrase, “Change your clock, change your battery."
Pinellas Suncoast Fire & Rescue has a limited supply of FREE Energizer batteries for the smoke detectors of those residents living within our fire district.
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Make your changes for all concerned Saturday evening, October 31st. Remember, safety is an attitude, not a chore. For more information please contact the Life Safety Services Division, at 595-1117
Fast Facts
Knowing
the facts is the key to fire safety
- In the United States, someone is fatally injured in a home fire roughly every 170 minutes.
- In Canada, someone is fatally injured in a home fire roughly every 31 hours.
- Smoking materials such as cigarettes, cigars and pipes are the leading cause of fire deaths in the United States. The majority of residential fires associated with smoking materials started as a result of careless or improper disposal.
- Fifteen of every 16 homes (94%) in the United States have at least one smoke alarm.
- Having smoke alarms in your home reduces your chance of dying in a fire nearly in half.
- One-half of home fire deaths occur in the 6 % of homes with no smoke alarms.
- In three of every 10 reported fires in homes equipped with smoke alarms, the devices did not work, most often because of missing, dead or disconnected batteries.
- Only eight percent of those surveyed whose smoke alarms had sounded in the past year thought it was a fire that caused the alarm to go off, and got out of their homes as a result.
- Properly installed and maintained, automatic fire sprinkler systems help save lives.
- Automatic fire sprinklers and smoke alarms together cut your risk of dying in a home fire 82% relative to having neither – a savings of thousands of lives a year.
- Home escape planning
- According to an NFPA survey, 26 percent of Americans said they had never thought about practicing a home fire escape plan. Three percent said they didn't believe that practice was necessary.
- During the months of December, January and February, heating equipment is the leading cause of home fires. Two-thirds of home heating fire deaths were caused by portable or fixed space heaters.
- Over the last decade, candle fires have almost tripled. In 1999 alone, an estimated 15,040 home fires started by candles were reported to fire departments. These fires resulted in 102 deaths, 1,473 injuries and an estimated property loss of $278 million.
- Forty percent of U.S. home candle fires begin in the bedroom.
- More fires start in the kitchen than in any other place in the home.
- Cooking fires are the #1 cause of home fires and home fire injuries.
- Unattended cooking is the leading cause of home cooking fires.
- Electrical fires and shocks kill hundreds of people and injure thousands each year.
- In 1999, electrical distribution equipment was the fourth leading cause of home structure fires, but ranked first in cause of direct property damage.
Click HERE for Page Two - Info on Installing &
testing Smoke Detectors
Click HERE for Page Three - Info on Home Fire Escape
Plans
Click HERE for the Home Page
Reproduced from NFPA's Fire Prevention Week Web site, www.firepreventionweek.org. ©2004 NFPA.