JFB Targets Households as Part of Fire Prevention Strategy

The Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB) will be introducing a community safety component to its fire prevention strategy, with special emphasis placed on households.
“We will continue to do public education, inspection and certification, but we will add another component, where we will actively target households,” said Assistant Commissioner with Responsibility for Fire Prevention, Laurie Williams.
He told JIS News that while in the past, “we have always looked at [fire safety] in industries, schools and institutions,” statistics indicate that households were most susceptible to loss of life caused by fires, giving rise to the need to expand the focus to include communities.
As part of the new approach, the Brigade will be promoting the installation of smoke detectors in every household, while educating children about the ‘stop, drop and roll,’ method of escaping serious injuries during a fire.
According to Mr. Williams, the emphasis on community fire safety, was to highlight the fact that fire safety was not only the responsibility of the Fire Brigade, but required wide scale community and multi-agency involvement.
The Brigade will use Fire Safety Awareness Week, which runs from October 22- 28, as the launching pad for this broadened approach to fire prevention. The theme for the week is ‘Preventing Fires – Protecting the Environment.’
Activities will get underway today (Oct. 22), with a National Church Service at the Bethany Gospel Assembly at 9a Hagley Park Road, starting at 11:00 a.m.
Throughout the week, exhibitions will be staged at the Tom Redcam Library, the Half-Way-Tree Fire Station, and the offices of the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), while fire drills and tours of the recently refurbished York Park Fire Station will be conducted.
The week, which is aimed at promoting fire safety among the Jamaican populace and showcasing the work of the fire service, will culminate with a ball on Saturday, October 28 at the Hylton Kingston hotel.