Highlighting the danger fire poses to the population

OCTOBER 2018 marks the 23rd year the Jamaica Fire Brigade will be celebrating Fire and Life Safety Awareness Week. Fire safety awareness is an international event which has been adopted worldwide where nations across the globe take time out to highlight the danger fire poses to its population.

Here in Jamaica, the focus of this year’s activities will be on children of all ages, to include those with special needs. Since 2009, structural fires have resulted in 66 children sustaining injuries of varying degrees, but more important, 88 children lost their lives in fires during the period. Since the start of 2018, there has been several incidents of fires, some of which are preventable, that have resulted in death and injuries to the most vulnerable in our society – our children.

During the week ahead, the Jamaica Fire Brigade will be visiting places of safety, children’s homes, schools, youth clubs, churches and other community organisations encouraging persons to participate fully in fire prevention activities.

As is the custom, the main objective of the week’s activities is to highlight the threat of fires to life and property and to educate the public on safety measures to adopt to prevent fires.

We will employ every possible means to promote fire safety consciousness as we provide a range of information and services on all aspects of fire and life safety and fire prevention.

In this regard, I recommend to you the fire and life safety activities that will be held in all major towns across the island from Monday to Friday of this week.

‘As is the custom, the main objective of the week’s activities is to highlight the threat of fires to life and property and to educate the public on safety measures to adopt to prevent fires.’