By Ben Rayner, Sound Senior Staff
Writer:
NORTH
BRANFORD:
It’s an achievement
that everyone in town can be proud of, according to Fire Chief William Seward
III. North Branford hasn’t had a fatal
residential fire in more than 25 years and the town’s fire department was
recently honored by the industry’s certification body for this outstanding
accomplishment.
Chief Seward
announced that the North Branford Fire Department (NBFD) has been presented
with a Life Safety Achievement Award for 2007 by the Residential Fire Safety
Institute (RFSI) of Stanton,
Indiana. RFSI is among several
licensing and certification bodies that promote fire safety and prevention.
According to Chief
Seward, the award recognizes the local fire prevention activities that
contributed to reducing the number of lives lost in residential fires. The North
Branford Fire Department qualified for this award in the year 2007 because it
recorded zero fire deaths in structures during that period.
“It sure is great to
be recognized for this, but a lot of this really depends on the prudent actions
of our homeowners,” said Seward. “The use of carbon monoxide detectors and
smoke detectors, providing the earliest possible warning, is vital.”
According to RFSI,
although residential fires in the U.S. account for only 20 percent of
all fires, they result in 80 percent of all fire deaths. In 2007, a total of
745 fire departments received the Life Safety Awards from RFSI.
It has been nearly
25 years since the last residential fire death occurred in North
Branford, according to Seward. He cited education and an emphasis
on prevention for the town’s record of safety.
“We have aggressive
fire prevention activities in town,” said Seward. “The key really is education.
Preventing a fire before there is an incident is the most effective way to do
this.”
During fiscal year
2007-08, NBFD responded to 1636 incidents, of which 85 percent were EMS related, according to town records. This figure
represents a three percent increase from the previous fiscal year.
Sixty-one percent of
the department’s alarms occur between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., a time frame when
staffing is at its lowest among volunteers. Seward said the record is even more
impressive in light of the fact that the department is all volunteer and also
has logistical issues that many towns don’t face.
“We lack an adequate
water supply for a good portion of town,” Seward said. “Forty to fifty percent
of town has no hydrants. We depend on tankers for those fires. The department
can be really strained when it comes to an inadequate water supply. We are a
volunteer department as well. This record is a real testament to them. But what
if the volunteers didn’t show up? Our department is one of things you can take
for granted until you need it.”
According to the
RFSI, the U.S. has one of the worst residential fire death records in the
industrialized world. Don’t be a statistic– carbon monoxide and smoke detectors
are essential and mandatory for residences. Remember to change detector
batteries frequently.