October fire prevention month
Published 6:00 pm Thursday, October 3, 2019
October is National Fire Prevention Month and it is a good time to be aware of the dangers of fire and the measures you need to take for fire prevention.
In addition, Oct. 6-12 is National Fire Prevention Week and the National Fire Prevention Association has loads of information on how to make you and your family safer from the threat of fire.
According to NFPA, every 24 seconds, a fire department in the United States responds to a fire somewhere in the nation. Although the number of fires and fire deaths have decreased significantly since the 1970s, some statistics are more troubling.
The group notes that fire deaths vary considerable by state, with 2013-17 average death rates per million of population range from a low of 4.6 to a high of 23.5. The U.S. average was 9.9.
Nine of 10 states with the highest overall fire death rates in the 2013-17, were located in the South. Another troubling statistic was that five of the 10 states with the highest death rates also had the highest percentage of African American residents.
Other high fire death rates are among people with a disability; have incomes below the poverty line; are smokers; live in rural areas; and are black, Native American or Alaskan Native.
The Louisiana State Fire Marshal’s statistics show there were 20 civilian deaths in Louisiana in 2019, between Jan. 1 and Aug. 1; and 47 fire related injuries among civilians and 32 fire service fire related injuries in that time period.
Also during that time there were 2,637 structure fires, 1,051 vehicle fires and 2,261 fires of other types for a total of 6,049 fires of all types, according to the state fire marshal.
The total fire dollar loss in Louisiana, just for that time period alone, was $68,863,152, according the fire marshal.
It is obvious that fire is still a big threat and danger to people and property and fire prevention should be taken seriously by everyone.
You can learn much more about how to protect your home, family or business by checking out the NFPA web site. The web address is at www.nfpa.org.
