YFD puts focus on preventing child injuries, deaths during EMS Week
Report: Playing with fire started 49K fires annually between 2007-11
The primary causes of unintentional home injury deaths of children are from fire and burns, suffocation, drowning, firearms, falls, choking, and poisoning, which is why the Yuma Fire Department has chosen to make injury prevention for children the topic of the third day of EMS Week.
According to the National Fire Protection Association, playing with fire (usually by children) started an average of 49,300 fires annually between 2007 and 2011, causing an estimated 80 civilian deaths, 860 civilian injuries and $235 million in property damage.
Roughly two out of every three child-playing fires — and four out of five associated deaths and injuries — involved matches or lighters. Most of those killed by these fires were under 5, and such fires were the leading cause of fire deaths among preschoolers.
Teach children that lighters and matches are firestarting tools (not toys), and keep them locked up.
Make a plan for escaping your home in an emergency and be sure to include a family meeting place where everyone will gather after they have gotten out of the home. Practice this plan with your children.
They know what to do at school, help them to learn what to do at home. Children that don’t know what to do may hide, and that is very dangerous.
Always be sure you have working smoke alarms in your home. Half of fire deaths could be prevented by the early warning given by a smoke alarm. Change batteries at least annu- ally and test them at least monthly. Smoke alarms save lives.
Even though Arizona is considered a desert state, every year drowning incidents take the lives of children. Children 4 years old and younger are in the highest risk group, and drowning is the leading cause of death for Arizona children age 1 through 4 years.
In 2016 the Yuma-area saw two child drowning deaths and at least six near drownings. So far in 2018 Maricopa and Pinal Counties alone have had five child drowning deaths (out of 28 water-related incidents) and Yuma has had several close calls.
Families can take simple steps to protect their children around water and avoid the tragedy of unnecessary loss of life. The most basic of these steps comes down to constant, responsible, relentless adult supervision of any child around water.
Always designate a “Water Watcher” whose only responsibility is to watch the kids around water. If they have to leave the immediate area (to answer a phone, use the bathroom, etc.), everyone comes out of the water. This is a rule without exception.