Cornwall Fire & Rescue Service Newsdesk

at 27/06/2006 09:15

*****Photo Opportunity*****
9.15 – 10.45am on Tuesday 27 June at Newquay Fire Station

The Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT) launched child safety week on Monday 19 June with the support of Cornwall County Fire Brigade, the local council, Devon and Cornwall Constabulary, Cornwall County Council, Westcountry Ambulance Service and the RNLI.

This community safety partnership supported the week by holding a ‘Lifeskills’ event at St Austell Fire Station and will be holding a further 2 lifeskills days at Newquay Fire Station next week.

Chief Fire Officer Matt Littmoden said: “Children are a vulnerable group when it comes to the risk from fire. Every year in the UK around 30 children are killed and 900 injured in home fires.

“Child Safety Week is an excellent time for us to focus our message on children. Simple steps can be taken to greatly reduce the risk.”

This is the fourth year the ‘lifeskills’ events have been held at the fire stations as they have proved invaluable.

1090 children will visit the fire stations this year to acquire knowledge and the necessary life skills to deal with a variety of incidents in the future.

Children aged 9 and 10 will be presented with a number of potentially dangerous scenarios. Safety is the key message. The children are split into eight groups, six in each. These groups rotate every ten minutes between interactive presentations from the various organisations.
When the children visit the fire brigade they will learn about the importance of a working smoke alarm and how they should make an escape plan with their family. The children will also get to watch a practical demonstration of a chip pan fire.

Ken Yeo, Executive Member for Public Protection added: “It is excellent to see all the agencies working together at these lifeskills events, and that so many of the local schools are again supporting it. Hopefully together we can help to raise the awareness of the risks these children may face in the future”.