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Editorial: Prevent home fires
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More from OpinionTo help prevent residential fires, Ventura County firefighters will be out in the community this week talking about smoke and carbon-dioxide detectors, home-escape plans, cooking, furnace and candle safety.
This week's community outreach is all part of Fire Prevention Week, which began Sunday. The theme firefighters will be promoting is "Prevent Home Fires."
County firefighters responded to more than 2,200 fires in 2007, many of them residential fires. Residents should really take the time to listen. Nationwide, the latest available figures show firefighters battled nearly 400,000 structure fires in 2006, in which more than 2,500 people died.
Cooking fires are the leading cause of most home fires, and most fire-related deaths are due to smoking or heating and electrical-equipment malfunctions, statistics show. The key to preventing many residential fires amounts to using basic common sense. Don't leave items cooking on the stove unattended; don't smoke in bed; don't neglect annual maintenance on your furnace. Good advice that could save a life.
To help remind residents how to prevent house fires, firefighters will have two information booths in two local malls this week. One in The Oaks mall in Thousand Oaks will be open Tuesday and Thursday, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; the other in the Simi Valley Town Center on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
It's important all work together to prevent house fires. There's no better time to make sure your home and family are safe from fire than during Fire Prevention Week.
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