Indian River VFC Provides 2020 Fire Prevention Week Campaign

The Fire Prevention Team within the Indian River Volunteer Fire Company has been diligently working to coordinate the various activities and events associated with the 2020 National Fire Prevention Week theme of “Serve up fire safety in the kitchen!”

On Sunday, October 4^th, the Fire Prevention Team kicked off the Fire Prevention Week with a visit to Rehoboth Beach VFC to participate with their Annual Open House.

On Monday, October 5^th, the Fire Prevention Team visited the Child Day Care facilities within the Indian River Fire District to distribute and share with staff information for lesson planning and prepackaged Fire Prevention packets for children and students.

On Tuesday, October 6^th, the Fire Prevention Team hosted a virtual meeting with the American Red Cross to discuss the future of the Sound the Alarm program and how it impacts our community efforts.

On Wednesday, October 7^th, the Fire Prevention Team visited Long Neck Elementary School hosted a virtual tour of Engine #80-3, virtually read a story, and offered prepackaged topic specific Fire Prevention material for all grade level children that will be disseminated by the school personnel.

On Thursday, October 8^th, the Fire Prevention Team continued to coordinate the fire prevention awareness efforts throughout the fire district which included development of community bulletin boards, distribution and installation of free smoke detectors, community canvas efforts, distribution of fire safety pamphlets in community stores, and many more activities.

It is desirous of the Fire Prevention Team to identify its successful dissemination and installation of free smoke detectors because it was identified that a recent community canvass event in July provided working smoke detectors to a residence in the Bay City development that recently displaced three adults and two children.  However, they had working smoke detectors operational.

As the Fire Prevention Team continues to focus on fire prevention awareness ---cooking fire safety comes to mind when home cooking fires represent the leading cause of U.S. home fires, with nearly half (49 percent) of all home fires involving cooking equipment when unattended cooking is the leading cause of these fires.

The Fire Prevention Team continues to emphasis the following key messages:

• Keep a close eye on what you’re cooking; never leave cooking unattended

• Keep anything that can catch fire — oven mitts, wooden utensils, food packaging, towels or curtains — at least three feet away from your stovetop.

• Be on alert. If you are sleepy or have consumed alcohol, don’t use the stove or stovetop.

Additional fire prevention information may be obtained by viewing the following websites:

http://irvfc.com/gallery/detail/37227;

http://irvfc.com/gallery/detail/40439; and

http://irvfc.com/gallery/detail/40098.

Source:  NFPA Fire Prevention Information