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Show Fire Prevention Week Oct. 6-16 Points Up Hazards of Fires by Fred Keetch, Fire Chief Too often, people are the "things" that burn. This is the theme of Fire Prevention Week, 1974, the seven days from October 6 to 16th when the nation makes a concerted effort to alert everyone every-one to the hazardes of fire and explosion in everyday living. When people hear of "Fire Losses," they usually think first of burning buildings, forests for-ests and other things not the people who may be caught in these fires. Yet so many people peo-ple are victims of fire that burn injuries have reached epidemic proportions. Fires cost the United States approximately $3.1 billion annually an-nually in property loss. An estimate by the National Corn- injuries and sometimes fatal fires can be controlled only by serious attention to fire prevention pre-vention wherever people live and work, study, and find recreation. re-creation. Concern about fire also must also extend to such basics as learning what to do in case clothing catches fire .... oberserving the practical guildelines for leaving your children and elderly persons in care of capable, conscientious babysitters or companions . . . working out and rehearsing a family escape plan, especially for escape from a nighttime fire. Headache of losing a family member through fire overshadows overshad-ows the financial heartbreak of seeing a home or business vanish in flames. mission on Fire Prevention and Control gives the total estimated estima-ted cost-including lost wages, sales productionn, etc, as well as buildings and contents destroyed de-stroyed as $12 billlion a year. This means the average annual toll of fire waste is $57.14 for every man, woman and child in the nation. Home fires those in one and two dwellings are responsible respon-sible for about a third of all fire deaths. These fatal fires most often take place between midnight and 6 a.m. when flames, smoke and toxic gases gain headway unnoticed while residents are asleep. This is why a nighttime fire excape plan is a "must" for every household. Fires kill an estimated esti-mated 12,730 persons per year in the United States and Canada Can-ada for an average of about 35 lives lost each and every day. The national "epidemic" of |
