Sunday marks the beginning of Fire Prevention Week 2022 – the 100th anniversary of the annual weeklong event focused on educating children and adults about how to stay safe in case of a fire. This year's theme is "Fire won't wait. Plan your escape."
If you are interested in becoming a Volunteer Firefighter right here in your hometown, contact Fire Chief Heath Goyette at (802) 468-5066 and leave a message. He can also be reached at (802) 342-0167 or by email at firechief@castleton.org. The Castleton Selectboard approved funds to recruit new members so talk to the Chief about the details of a sign-on bonus. Castleton is a strictly volunteer fire department, meaning no full or part-time members, so those firefighters responding, anytime day or night, are volunteers right here from your community. Don't want to be an interior firefighter, there are other options. The department needs new members to serve as drivers, pump operators, and fire police. The department drills on Wednesday nights, so stop by after 6:00 PM on a Wednesday evening and get a tour of the department and talk to the Chief about joining.
The links below are to videos that show how little time it takes for a room with synthetic furniture to reach a "flashover point". Having fire escape plans in your home that are rehearsed with all family members can save your life. As the videos will show, it takes less than three minutes for the hot gases to ignite everything in the room. These are not tenable conditions and getting out of the house quickly and safely is more likely to happen if there is a plan that has been rehearsed.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=flashover+video&ru=%2fsearch%3fq%3dflashover%2bvide[...]VAP
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=flashover+video&ru=%2fsearch%3fq%3dflashover%2bvide[...]VRV
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=flashover+video&ru=%2fsearch%3fq%3dflashover%2bvide[...]VAP
Below are links to articles written for FireRescue1 to learn more about what you can do to be better prepared in case you experience a home fire.
1. USFA has a webpage dedicated to fire prevention and public education. It includes articles, handouts to print and distribute, visuals to use on social media, and other resources. Every Second Counts: Plan 2 Ways Out! https://www.usfa.fema.gov/prevention/
2. NFPA offers teaching tools for educators and parents to use with children, which include lesson plans, tip sheets and Sparky the Fire Dog videos. https://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/Teaching-tools
3. NFPA maintains public education resources, and information on escape planning for older adults will come soon, Vastis said. https://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education
4. Sparky.org offers children's activities, videos and games. https://sparky.org/
5. The American Red Cross has fire safety checklists and fact sheets in multiple languages. https://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/types-of-emergencies/fire.html
6. Ready.gov offers information for the public about disasters and emergencies and how to plan for them. https://www.ready.gov/
DATA TELLS AN IMPORTANT FIRE SAFETY STORY
The latest NFPA data shows that there has been a significant decline in the number of fires occurring in U.S. homes over the past few decades, reflecting the positive impact of public fire safety education and initiatives like Fire Prevention Week. However, the nation's home fire death rate has stagnated in recent years. In fact, people are actually more likely to die in a home fire today than they were in 1980.
This data tells us that while people have gotten much better at preventing home fires from happening, when home fires do occur, they are serious. It also means that there is still much more work to do when it comes to educating the public about the small window of time, they have to escape a home fire from the time the smoke alarm sounds, and how to use that time wisely to get out as quickly and safely as possible. That's why this year's Fire Prevention Week theme – "Fire Won't Wait. Plan Your Escape" – focuses on the importance of home escape planning and practice.