LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. –
National Fire Prevention Week is Oct. 10-14, and firefighters with the 633rd Civil Engineer Squadron are offering demonstrations and educational events on base and in base housing at The Landings at Langley at Bethel Manor.
Rick Pettyjohn, 633rd CES assistant chief of fire prevention, said making fire prevention a mindset is the key to preventing fires in the home and at work.
"We live in one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, but we are still losing people's lives in fires," said Pettyjohn. "We need prevention to be a daily habit, and not just something we think about during this week."
The fire departments on base and in Bethel Manor will be holding open houses 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. all week. Sparky the Fire Dog, who turns 60 this year, will be handing out safety material at the Base Exchange. Additionally, firefighters will be going to local elementary schools to offer fire prevention tips and show off some of their exciting, fire-fighting equipment.
"We go to all the (child development centers) and youth centers on base to educate the children," said Pettyjohn. "We try to get them while they are young and reinforce what we taught them every year. Plus, we try to make it fun."
Chris Jacobs, 633rd CES fire inspector, is responsible for annual fire inspections of all the buildings on base. He said a lot of people mistakenly believe they can handle a fire themselves, when they should simply call the fire department.
"One of our leading causes of fire is unattended cooking. What you don't want to do is pour water on a grease fire. Water expands at a ratio of 1,700 to one, and because water and grease don't mix, it will just carry the fire with it," said Jacobs. "What you want to do is turn off the stove, cover the fire and call us."
On Oct. 3, there was fire in base housing caused when someone left an empty pizza box in the oven. When the oven was turned on to preheat it for dinner, the pizza box caught fire. When the wife went to investigate and opened the oven door, flames burst from the oven. Thankfully, the family was able to safely evacuate and call for help.
Pettyjohn said a fire in base housing caused more than $100,000 of damage in April 2010. Firefighters with the 633rd CES and Yorktown responded and were able to extinguish the electrical fire, but three families were displaced because of the fire.
"This time of year we have to be very careful because people start bringing out their portable heaters. The biggest thing we want to emphasize is to keep at least three feet of clearance away from any kind of heat source, especially those little heaters," said Pettyjohn. "People aren't' supposed to have them in base housing, but inevitably someone does."
According to the National Fire Prevention Agency, 482,000 structure fires were reported in the United States in 2010. That is a structure fire reported roughly every 65 seconds. Damages were estimated at $9.7 million, and there were 2,755 civilian fire deaths, which was an increase of 2.9 percent.
Pettyjohn said education is the best prevention they can offer, "Our motto here is we work hard so that our operators don't have to."
For more information, see the attached schedules.
Schedule of events on Langley
Schedule of events off base