Fire Marshal Robert Doyle offered the following tips for keeping homes and offices safe, in light of the rash of fires over the last week, two of which were caused by unattended cigarettes.
• Cook with caution: 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 catch fire away from your stovetop.
• “Candle with care”: 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. Keep candles at least 12 inches away from anything that can burn.
NFPA Public Education Division
• Smoking safety: If you smoke, smoke outside. Most deaths result from fires that started in living rooms, family rooms and dens or in bedrooms. Do not discard cigarettes in vegetation such as mulch, potted plants or landscaping, peat moss, dried grasses, leaves or other things that could ignite easily. Before you throw away butts and ashes, make sure they are out, and dousing in water or sand is the best way to do that.
• Install smoke alarms inside and outside each bedroom and sleeping area. Install alarms on every level of the home, including the basement. It is best to use interconnected smoke alarms, so they all sound when one goes off. Replace all smoke alarms when they are 10 years old.
NFPA Public Education Division
The fire marshal’s office is always available to conduct safety inspections. They are also willing to give presentations to groups about fire safety and fire prevention. The office hours are Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and phone number is 203 – 946-6232.
Doyle also reminds everyone to change their clocks and batteries for Daylight Saving Time, which starts Sunday morning. The fire marshal’s office has a limited number of 9‑volt batteries for New Haven neighbors, which will be given out on a first-come-first-serve basis.
Public fire education has been the key to reducing the incident of structure fires by the New Haven Fire Department. It all started back in the 1970's and became a top priority in the 1980's with the Director of Public Fire Education and Community Service playing a key role with the goal to educate a generation of school children in fire safety. The children have grown up to become adults and parents and yes for a couple of decades the number of structural fires have decreased. Budget cuts have eliminated the Directors position that also had the responsibility of educating the elderly and the business community. The Office of the Fire Marshal has played a key role in reaching the public. It nice to see the Fire Marshal is reaching out through the media (NHI) to get the message out. His staff has a major responsibility in ensuring the enforcement of the local and national fire safety codes.