Anoka Times

City of Blaine issued the following announcement on Jan. 21.

The fire deaths that occurred last year in Spring Lake Park have affected many in the community. This tragedy brings many questions, mainly what can be done to prevent something like this from happening again.

Over the last 50 years much has been done to reduce fire deaths. Unfortunately, the death rate from fire has begun to trend up after a long decline. Nationally, in 2017, 3,400 people lost their lives due to fire, which is the highest rate since 2008. Most fire deaths (77 percent) occur in single family homes with fire departments in the U.S. responding somewhere to a structure fire every 24 seconds.

Top five fire causes as reported by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA):

• Cooking
• Heating
• Electrical
• Smoking
• Candles

So how do we prevent these fires from causing serious death/injury or from even occurring? The NFPA recommends the following actions:

• Increase public education on how to avoid serious injury or death if a fire occurs.
• Increase use of residential sprinklers.
• Address the fire safety needs of higher risk groups such as older adults, economically disadvantaged, and disabled residents.
• Develop additional ways to make home products safer from fire.

The Spring Lake Park-Blaine-Mounds View Fire Department (SBMFD) is a fire prevention leader with many innovative programs provided at no additional cost to residents and business owners. The SBMFD has many professionals to assist residents. Community risk reduction is a concept which includes, but is not limited to, fire prevention inspections, fire safety presentations, neighborhood canvassing, home safety surveys, public education, and response/mitigation.

One of the most effective programs for reducing risk are home safety surveys. SBMFD staff schedule an appointment and spend approximately an hour going through your home. During the survey, fire hazards will be identified as well as advice provided on how to correct those hazards. In addition, SBMFD personnel may install smoke and/or carbon monoxide detectors if needed.

For more information, please call 763-786-4436 or visit SBMFire.org.                  

 Original source can be found here.

Source: City of Blaine