MORGANTOWN — Look. Listen. Learn. Be aware — fire can happen anywhere. That’s the official theme and message of this year’s National Fire Prevention Week, which started Sunday.
“Instead of picking one specific point, they did a more inclusive theme this year,” Andy Dotson, Morgantown Fire Department’s (MFD) public education and fire prevention specialist, said.
Dotson said the message is about being fire conscious not just at your home, but everywhere. That means looking for the exits and listening for smoke alarms.
“Fire safety affects everywhere,” he said. “Have situational awareness.”
According to the National Fire Prevention Association, the number of house fires has been in decline during the past several decades, but the death rate per 1,000 home fires increased by 10 percent from 1980 to 2016.
“In house fires, people have a limited time to make choices that can save or cost them their lives and the lives of loved ones,” MFD Chief Mark Caravasos said.
Families also need to practice their fire exit plans, Dotson said. He said 71 percent of families have fire exit strategies, but only 46 percent practice them.
It’s especially important to practice if you have kids, Dotson said. If the agreed meeting place is the oak tree in the front yard, but the kids go to the oak tree in the back yard, every parent in the world is going to go back for their kids and nine in 10 people who go into a burning building after they’ve safely exited don’t come back out, he said.
“How good is anything if you don’t practice?” Dotson asked.
He recommended practicing four to six times a year.
An exit plan should have two ways out of a home and a familiar meeting place. Dotson said the meeting place is important because it established accountability.
When firefighters arrive on scene their tactics change if there are people still inside, he said.
Dotson also said people should make sure their home address is visible and clear of foliage so firefighters can find the home in an emergency.
National Fire Prevention Week is held during the week of Oct. 9 each year as an acknowledgement to the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 which killed an estimate 300 people and caused $200 million in damage, according to a press release from MFD. President Calvin Coolidge declared the national observance in 1925.
Tweet Will Dean @WillDean_DP; wdean@domininionpost.com
