More adults causing fires, officials say - JAMAICAOBSERVER.COM
Kimmo Matthews
Thursday, January 01, 2009
FIRE officials say they continue to face major hurdles in spreading the message about fire prevention across the island as more adults - and not children, as expected - are failing to follow fire safety measures.
"It may come as a surprise but in many of the reported cases of fires it is the adults and not the children who are failing to follow safety measures," said Emeleo Ebanks, public relations officer from the Jamaica Fire Brigade Fire Prevention headquarters.
Ebanks also explained that recent assessments showed that children were not only quick learners but were often following what they were taught, hence making fewer mistakes when it came to fire prevention practices.
Fire officials said this was in contrast to adults who - despite what they were taught - were consistently failing to change their habits and kept making the same mistakes over and over.
According to representatives of the Jamaica Fire Brigade Fire Prevention, since the start of the year there have been 1,510 reported cases of structural fires and 5,667 cases of bush fires across the island.
To stem this problem the officials said they were going into the schools and communities to inform and to educate persons about how to prevent fires.
"We have been in the schools and into the communities. It may sound strange but our biggest target now is the adults and not so much the children.
"What we are seeing is that adults are making the same mistakes over and over. On the other hand children, when they are taught about the precautions, are following these guidelines and making fewer mistakes," the officials said.
