Politics & Government

Fire Safety: It Starts With You

Cartersville Fire Department is set Saturday to kick off Fire Prevention Week: Protect your Family from Fire with an open house.

For local firefighters preparing for Fire Prevention Week, the combination of two adages ring true—stay ahead of the game and many hands make light work.

is teaming up with National Fire Protection Association from Oct. 9 to 15 to let the community know “It’s Fire Prevention Week. Protect your Family from Fire!

This year’s campaign focuses on preventing the leading causes of home fires—cooking, heating and electrical equipment, as well as candles and smoking materials. Additionally, it urges people to protect their homes and families with life-saving technology and planning.

Find out what's happening in Cartersvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“The biggest lesson that folks should remember is that each and every citizen in this community is responsible for keeping themselves, their family and their community safer from fire,” Cartersville Fire Marshal Mark Hathaway said. “Fire prevention starts with you.”

The department Saturday is hosting its third-annual to kick off the week and promote it through an educational, family-oriented activity, at which residents can learn more about the power of prevention and available technologies to protect their families from fire.

Find out what's happening in Cartersvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“We hold this annual event as part of our support for National Fire Prevention Week. Fire Prevention Week was established to commemorate the Great Chicago Fire, the tragic 1871 conflagration that killed more than 250 people, left 100,000 homeless, destroyed more than 17,400 structures and burned more than 2,000 acres,” Hathaway said. “The fire began on Oct. 8, but continued into and did most of its damage on Oct. 9, 1871.

“This is the perfect time to open the doors of the and not only talk about fire safety, but to showcase what services and equipment the Cartersville Fire Department provides for the city.“

More than 360,000 home fires were reported across the country in 2009, according to the nonprofit NFPA.

“In 2009, 2,565 people died in home fires. Nearly all of these deaths could have been prevented by taking a few simple precautions [such as] having working smoke alarms and a home fire escape plan, keeping things that can burn away from the stove and always turning off space heaters before going to bed,” Hathaway said. “Fire is a dangerous opponent, but by anticipating the hazards, you are much less likely to be one of the nearly 13,000 people injured in home fires each year.”

The department offers these tips for protecting your home and family from fire:

  • Stay in the kitchen while you are frying, grilling or broiling food. If you leave the kitchen for even a short period of time, turn off the stove.
  • Keep anything that can burn at least 3 feet away from heating equipment, like the furnace, fireplace, wood stove or portable space heater.
  • Have a 3-foot “kid-free zone” around open fires and space heaters.
  • Replace or repair damaged or loose electrical cords.
  • If you smoke, smoke outside.
  • Use deep, wide ashtrays on a sturdy table.
  • Blow out all candles when you leave the room or go to bed. Avoid the use of candles in the bedroom and other areas where people may fall asleep.

“While preventing home fires in Cartersville is always our number one priority, it is not always possible,” Hathaway said. “Cartersville’s residents need to provide the best protection to keep their homes and families safe in the event of a fire. This can be achieved by developing an escape plan which you practice regularly and equipping homes with life-saving technologies [such as] smoke alarms and home fire sprinklers.”

The following tips will help keep your family safe if there is a fire in your home:

  • Install smoke alarms inside each bedroom, outside each sleeping area and on every level of the home (including the basement).
  • Interconnect all smoke alarms in the home so when one sounds, they all sound.
  • Test smoke alarms at least monthly and replace all smoke alarms when they are 10 years old or sooner if they do not respond when tested.
  • Make sure everyone in your home knows how to respond if the smoke alarm sounds.
  • Pull together everyone in your household and make a plan. Walk through your home and inspect all possible ways out. Households with children should consider drawing a floor plan of your home, marking two ways out of each room, including windows and doors.
  • If you are building or remodeling your home, consider installing home fire sprinklers.

To find out more about local Fire Prevention Week programs and activities, call at 770-387-5636.

“The most important message that we would like people to take away is the fact that everyone in the community has a hand in the prevention of home fires through education, life saving technologies and planning,” Hathaway said. “We in the can help in all of these aspects. We can provide safety education programs, educate on technologies that can keep families safer and offer assistance in creating different types of emergency plans.”


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Cartersville