JFB Observes Fire And Life Safety Week

The Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB) will be hosting a slew of activities, utilising traditional and social media, to commemorate the 25th year of Fire and Life Safety Awareness Week (FLSAW) and is encouraging citizens to participate.

The week is being observed from October 24 to 30 under the theme ‘Empowering Citizens to Create Fire Safe Communities’.

Speaking at a JIS Think Tank on Monday (October. 25), JFB Commissioner, Stewart Beckford, said that “at this time of the year, during Fire and Life Safety Week, we intensify our public relations and media campaign to educate and to advise Jamaicans of tips they can adopt to make their surroundings safe from fires”.

He noted that the JFB is celebrating 150 years of existence and service to the people of Jamaica.

Public Relations Officer of the JFB, Emeleo Ebanks, who also addressed the session, said that due to the pandemic, most of the FLSAW activities will be done virtually.

“We started the week with a church service, which was live-streamed on our social-media platforms. We’ll be collaborating with schools and communities and using all the virtual spaces that we can to ensure that the message of fire safety reaches the public, and of course, this year being our 150th year, we are going larger than large,” Mr. Ebanks said.

In outlining the activities for the week, he shared that social media engagement has already started through the JFB Instagram jingle and poster competitions, which closed on October 22, with the winners to be announced shortly.

Mr. Ebanks noted that there will also be islandwide virtual town hall meetings targeting community members.

A virtual university forum will be held on Wednesday, October 27, covering the topics of event permits and the aftermath of fires.

“The main thing behind the virtual university forum is to ensure that persons at the university level who will be heading out there into the working world, especially those who are going into the built environment [field], have a basic understanding of how we operate at the JFB.

“As you know, building plans come through the fire brigade for certification before persons can go out there and start building. We want to start the education of these individuals at this level, to make sure that they understand the codes that we abide by,” Mr. Ebanks explained.

He told JIS News that the JFB is committed to sensitising citizens, especially as they spend more time indoors due to the pandemic, because statistics and history have shown that there is increased risk of fires when more persons are at home.

Mr. Ebanks said that persons interested in participating in Fire and Life Safety Awareness activities may engage with the JFB through its Facebook and Instagram social media pages.