MAYOR’S COLUMN -- John J. Collins

The theme of Fire Prevention week this year is: “Fire Drills: The Great

Escape!”

Having grown up in a family of firefighters, I have heard many horror

stories about deaths and injuries that occurred in a fire and could have

been avoided.

My father told me a story I’ll never forget. A 40-year Boston firefighter

woke up one night to find his home on fire.

This man, who fought fires for many years, panicked and did not know what

to do.

The moral of the story is that as confident as you may be that you can

handle the situation, when smoke tears your eyes and clogs your lungs and

the life and well-being of you and your family are jeopardized by a fire

in your home, you really can’t predict how you will react.

Certain precautions including a planned and practiced exit strategy can

mean the difference between life and death. It may sound like I am simply

on a soapbox, but the loss of life and property caused by fire, in some

instances, can be prevented.

In the United States, fire kills about 4,000 people and injures thousands

of others each year. Children are particularly vulnerable to fire.

A recent National Fire Protection Association survey noted half of the

people responding indicated their family had a fire escape plan, however,

only 16% said they had practiced it.

A home escape plan is simply knowing how to get out of your home in case

there is a fire. There are things about a fire escape plan that are the

same no matter where you live.

A smoke alarm is an important part of every plan. Every plan needs to

show two ways out of each room. One way would be the door, and sometimes

you may have to use a window.

An outside meeting place is critical to every plan. This could be a tree,

telephone pole, neighbor’s house, etc. Most importantly, the plan should

be practiced at least two times a year.

This is the 12th year of the “Change Your Clock, Change Your Battery”

national home fire safety program.

During this campaign, every community member is urged to change the

batteries in their smoke alarms when they change their clocks back to

standard time each fall. This year, clocks and batteries are set to

change on Halloween, Oct. 31.

An average of three children die in home fires every day in this country

and 90% of those deaths occur in homes without working smoke alarms.

Let’s all do our part in making our families safe from the devastating

consequences of a home fire.

Change the batteries in your smoke alarms. You do have smoke alarms,

don’t you?

Develop a plan for escaping a fire in your home and practice it with the

entire family.

Please join me in making and practicing plans for saving our city’s most

valuable resources -- the lives of each and every resident!

John J. Collins is mayor of Fountain Valley.