Growing concern about the number of house fires occurring during the holiday season has prompted the Bajan Fire Fighters’ Network to embark on a vigorous awareness campaign.
Chief administrative officer of the registered charity, Glyne Alleyne, said their intention through “Operation P.A.T.H.W.A.Y.S. – Promoting Awareness Through Humanitarian Works Around Yuletide Season” is “to heighten the level of awareness and to educate the public on the potential hazards that we see occurring during the festive period as a result of cooking, decorating and the general celebrating of the yuletide period”.
“It is that time of the year when we tend to see this [fires] consistently happening all the time. We started this campaign because we were concerned. We were seeing a very ugly trend where every year fires are occurring and the people who are losing these houses are the ones who can least afford to,” Alleyne explained.
“It is the people who are at the lower echelons financially in society who are confronted with these catastrophic occurrences and who are propelled right down to the brink of poverty where they don’t have anything to start over with. Many of these homes are uninsured so there is no hope of getting any payout, any settlement, from the insurance company because there is no coverage to begin with.
“We need to break the cycle. I would like to be able to brag that we have five years pass without a house fire happening during the festive period, but regrettably, that is not the case,” said Alleyne.
During the campaign which started last month and runs until January 5, 2022, tips, information, and discussions will be shared via the charity’s social media channels, he said, while noting the importance of sensitising the public about “certain key factors” related to the kitchen and electricals which are “big problems”.
“People are buying the wrong types of lights and putting those designed for internal use outside their homes. They are consistently overloading the circuits in their homes by having too many electronic devices plugged in at any given time.
“We are seeing this trend now of buying live [Christmas] trees and we want them to understand that if you are going to purchase one, you need to take the care that is required with that type of tree. After purchasing you need to immediately cut the bottom, put it in a container and must water it every day to slow the drying process that is taking place every day because those trees are highly combustible.
“Added to that, your Christmas lights are a heat source and if you have a dry tree, they could ignite the dried-out tree and cause a fire. We’re really hoping that we can have all the dealers selling them to attach a little tag stipulating the care and caution that must be practiced when you purchase a live tree.
“We’re not telling the public don’t buy them; we know how nice they smell. We want the public to be careful when they buy live trees,” said the firefighter.
Warning against complacency in the kitchen he reemphasised householders should be attentive when baking and cooking.
“We do not recommend unattended cooking. We too often are seeing this practice where people are leaving the stove lit and going out of the room and conducting other business, going next door, and leaving the stove unattended. That is also a major contributor to many of these kitchen fires.
“We are well aware that during that holiday period many persons are tired from all the cleaning, etc. but you cannot leave your stove unattended,” stated Alleyne. (GBM)
