Fire prevention

“ During this annual observance of Fire Prevention Week, I urge all Americans to develop and practice a home fire escape plan. Ideally, such a plan should include two ways out of every room, as well as a designated meeting place outside for all members of the family. Parents should teach their children the importance of crawling close to the floor to avoid smoke and noxious fumes, as well as the "stop, drop, and roll" technique for extinguishing flames on one's clothing. ”

“ I encourage the people of the United States to take an active role in fire prevention not only during this week, but throughout the year. I also call upon all Americans to honor the courageous members of our Nation's fire and emergency services by learning about the dangers posed by fire and by preparing their friends and family members to react immediately and safely to fires when they occur. ”

“ As we work to put out the fires and bring relief to their victims, we also have a responsibility to prevent the devastation that can be caused by future fires. For too long, America's fire prevention strategy has been shortsighted. ”

“ Progress can be made in reducing our fire losses if every American recognizes his and her responsibility for eliminating fire hazards and for participating in the community fire prevention programs. Therefore, it is vital that everyone support and participate in local fire prevention activities, not only during Fire Prevention Week, but at all times. ”

“ The business community has a special responsibility to provide fire-safe products. Builders, architects and engineers have a responsibility to provide fire-safe places in which to work and live. Local governments have a responsibility to enact and enforce adequate codes and encourage good fire prevention practices. ”

“ Every small measure we as individuals take to prevent fire increases the level of fire safety throughout our country. Many organizations dedicated to fire safety across the United States will sponsor activities during Fire Prevention Week ”

“ I call upon each individual and family to participate in the programs of Fire Survival and Exit Drills In The Home to assure safe evacuation in emergencies; and for businesses to conduct year-round fire prevention to include emphasis of on-and-off-the-job applications of fire safety practices. ”

“ Each of us has the ability to prevent needless suffering from the destructive power of fire.
This fall, Fire Prevention Week will be an opportunity for Americans to show their best, as they help one another learn and practice fire safety steps. The tools we need to protect our homes and our loved ones from fire are simple. This year, the National Fire Prevention Week theme, "A Sound You Can Live With-Test Your Smoke Detector!", emphasizes easy steps we can take to give us valuable time to escape a home fire. ”

“ The United States has made tremendous advances through the years in reducing the terrible toll that fire takes on our citizens. In 1925, when President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed the first National Fire Prevention Week, he noted that nearly 15,000 lives were lost each year to fire in our country. ”

“ Obviously, we must continue to address fire prevention as a national priority, and I strongly urge each citizen to make a personal commitment to aid in the reduction of this senseless and tragic waste of precious lives, property, and natural resources from fire. Through a concentrated effort our Nation can substantially reduce the human suffering and economic losses from fire. ”

“ One place we can all start is with this year's Fire Prevention Week theme, "Fire Drills Save Lives." Everyone should plan ahead noting the most convenient fire exits. Families should install and maintain smoke detectors in their homes to provide early warning of fire. ”

“ Each year, fires kill or injure thousands of Americans and destroy or damage billions of dollars worth of property. Many of these fires might have been prevented by taking appropriate precautions and following safety guidelines. During Fire Prevention Week, we highlight the need to prevent and prepare for fires, and we raise awareness of fire safety. ”

“ Uncontrolled, fire can destroy homes, livelihoods, and lives. This year, in the wake of one of the most serious wildland fire seasons in history and a troubling series of arsons at houses of worship, we must join together and rededicate ourselves to fire prevention efforts. Whether working to stop church arsons or to avoid accidental fires in the home, we all have an important role to play. ”

“ They too have suffered a needless loss of life and limb as a result of fire hazards which have been allowed to continue unchecked, but at last fire prevention is a dominant note in all progressive communities today and among all progressive civic workers. ”

“ Fire loss reduction and fire prevention are activities directly related to reducing economic loss and should be a part of our overall national effort.
Of vital concern, and an area in which there is a major need for improved fire safety, is the place where we live: our homes. Each year, more than half the deaths caused by fire-about 6,600 on the average-have occurred in our homes. Last year alone, 73 per cent of all building fires occurred in residences while the loss and damage to homes amounted to more than $1 billion. ”

“ Every year, fires needlessly take lives and destroy homes, natural habitats, and livelihoods. This year, as we observe Fire Prevention Week, I ask all citizens to take responsible steps to prevent fires at home and outdoors and to ensure that safety and emergency plans are in place and in practice. ”

“ I commend the many national, State, and local organizations whose dedicated commitment to fire safety has done so much to reduce our Nation's fire losses in the last decade, and I am grateful for the contributions of the National Fire Protection Association, the originator of Fire Prevention Week, and I congratulate this organization as it celebrates its 90th anniversary this year. ”

“ More than 5,000 people in the United States die each year as a result of fire—most of them in their homes. Tens of thousands more suffer painful and often disfiguring fire-related injuries. If we are to prevent such tragic losses in the future, all Americans must learn how to identify and to avoid fire hazards. Moreover, all of us—especially children and older adults—must know what to do in case fire strikes.
Fire prevention begins with recognizing and changing risky behaviors such as careless smoking; fire prevention is as simple as keeping matches and lighters out of reach of children. ”

“ Less valuable resources, less susceptible to fire danger, should receive protection in proportion. Other classes of fire protection studies have to do with the various phases of fire prevention, fire detection, and fire control. Studies have also been carried on to determine the rapidity with which fire spreads in different forest types, and under a given set of climatic conditions. ”

“ Bear in mind several simple rules for fire prevention:—never throw a match in dry leaves: never leave a fire burning when there is no one to watch it, for a gust of wind may start a bad fire from a bed of half dead embers. In locating camp always build the camp fire in the open if possible or on sand or soil but never on forest loam. ”

“ Local community and fire department organizations are asked to provide the direction and support necessary to assure that each home and business is invited to participate in Fire Prevention Week activities ”

“ The fire brigade as such, however, has but a minor rôle in a rational system of protection. Really well-protected towns owe their condition in the first place to properly applied preventive legislation, based on the practical experience and research of architects, engineers, fire experts and insurance and municipal officials. Fire protection is a combination of fire prevention, fire combating and fire research. ”

“ A book in a new line is H. and H. Ingle’s Chemistry of Fire and Fire Prevention’ (Spon and Chamberlain) . The book takes its origin from lectures delivered to an audience of insurance men. After three chapters on the history and theory of combustion, various industries more or less connected with fire are taken up; coal gas, dust explosions, fuel, illuminants, explosives, oils, volatile solvents, paints and varnish making, textile manufactures, spontaneous combustion, are some of the subjects treated. The last chapter is a quite useful one on fire prevention and extinction. ”

“ The International Fire Exhibition held in 1903 at Earl’s Court, and the Fire Prevention Congress of the same year, may be said to have revolutionized thought on the subject of fire brigade organization and equipment in the British empire; but, for all that, the advance made by the fire service has not been so rapid as the development of the fire-preventive side of fire protection.
Fire Protection.—The term “Fire Protection” is often misunderstood. ”

“ Vigorous community fire departments, both paid and volunteer, which have effectively conducted fire prevention programs have contributed substantially to the local and national welfare by reducing significantly the number and effects of destructive fires. Those fire departments which confine their roles to putting out fires and rescuing its victims need to expend more effort on fire prevention. ”

“ This should include educating children on the principles of fire safety, educating adults on fire safety in homes through residential inspections, enforcing fire protection and prevention codes and standards, and ensuring that adequate fire safety features are designed into our buildings and structures. All citizens need to know the basics of fire prevention, how to report fires, how to extinguish simple fires, and how to react if fire occurs in their homes or places of work. ”

“ Methods of coping with fire's destructiveness have been developed. But technological advances alone will not stop the needless waste in human suffering and resources. A greater awareness of fire safety by all of us remains the only real answer. ”

“ The author's suggestions on fire prevention and fire protection, although written chiefly with reference to hospitals, lunatic asylums and orphans' homes, are equally applicable to hotels, warehouses, factories, mills, schools, churches, dwelling-houses and public buildings of all kinds. ”

“ All of this destruction can be sparked by a single careless act. We must remain vigilant whenever we are around fire. By taking the appropriate precautions, we can prevent fires, save lives, and protect property and the environment. ”

“ But when no such precaution has been adopted, when even the bare possibility of fire has not been considered, when no attention has even been paid to the subject, and no provision made for it; the inhabitants are generally so alarmed and confused, that the danger is probably over, by their property being burned to the ground, before they can sufficiently recollect themselves to lend any effective assistance. ”

“ The energies of each band of firemen were commonly reserved for the protection of property only in which their own insurance company or parish was immediately interested. As a rule, whatever water was thrown upon a burning building was dashed against the walls, windows, and roof from the outside only, very little if any really reaching the actual seat of the fire within. ”

“ The smoke is sometimes so thick, that he comes under the range of the branch of the engine without being aware of it till the water strikes him. If he escape this chance, the water rushing on some other object, recoils on him, and produces the same effect; and if the fire be in the roof of the apartment, he must lie down on his back on the floor, and in this manner gets completely steeped.
A bath of this sort is neither very safe nor pleasant; and the only preventive of injury to the health is to keep the men in constant motion. ”

“ Where the strength of the men and the supply of water used to be wasted, by being thrown against windows, walls, and roofs, the firemen now seek out the spot where the danger lies, and creeping on hands and feet into a chamber full of flame, or smoke, often at the hazard of suffocation, discover the exact seat of danger ”

“ As almost all fires arise from inattention in one shape or another, it is of the utmost importance that every master of a house or other establishment should persevere in rigidly enjoining and enforcing on those under him, the necessity of observing the utmost possible care in preventing such calamities, which, in nineteen cases out of twenty, are the result of remissness or inattention. Indeed, if any one will for a moment consider the fearful risk of life and property, which is often incurred from a very slight inattention, the necessity of vigilance and care will at once be apparent. ”