Fire chief offers safety tips
In the wake of Monday night’s tragic fire in which seven children lost their lives, the community is taking a hard look at the issue of safety: how to prevent fires from occurring and how to survive them once they start. Fire Chief Henry Baizar says that the key is to think ahead and make a plan.
Henry Baizar, Fire Chief
“If they are going to use candles, then they must ensure that these candles are placed in areas where the wind will not get to them quite easily and where curtains and things will not blow onto the candle.”
“Kerosene lamps are much better alternatives. These lamps are built for that purpose. I grew up in the country and we’ve been using kerosene lamps for ages. I grew up with kerosene lamps and we have never had in incident, so kerosene lamps are much safer than candles.”
Stewart Krohn
“Assuming that you can get your wits about you, what kind of steps should people follow if they are caught in a fire situation?”
Henry Baizar
“The thing is that every home, as far as I am concerned, should have some sort of plan. Everyone should know the plan. If you live in a house, you have a floor plan and when you go through how many rooms you have in your house, you must ensure that each of these areas have at least two exits, either a window or a door. One of these exits can be blocked by fire at any given time and if it’s through the window you’ve got to go, then you must ensure that there are means for you to get through that window.”
Stewart Krohn
“But isn’t it a problem with many houses in Belize having burglar bars? What do you do about the burglar bars?”
Henry Baizar
“Even if the windows are burglar barred, there are bars that can be opened from the inside. In my home, I have burglar bars on all my windows, but some of them can open from the inside. They are made specifically for that purpose. So we need to have escape routes from our home and we need to practice and practice and everybody must know the means of escape from your home.”
Stewart Krohn
“What about smoke alarms, are they a good idea?”
Henry Baizar
“Smoke detectors are very useful and we are working on that, I would encourage that each home have at least two or three smoke detectors.”
Stewart Krohn
“Assuming that you know your fire plan, maybe you even have a smoke detector, you can get out your windows if you need to get out of them, but a fire happens and suddenly you awake from your bed and you find smoke all around. Specifically on that instance, what must you train yourself to do?”
Henry Baizar
“Smoke will normally rise. What you need to do is go down very low and you need to crawl out of the room to a safe place. People at time get up and stand up, and once you stand, you’ll be in the centre of the smoke. If you go lower down, you will get some fresh air and you can crawl and get out to safety.”
“Once you get out, people must in their plan have a meeting place outside of the home, whereby once you get out everybody will know that meeting place and you can go to that meeting place. So that when the fire service or someone arrives, you can say there’s no one in the house or there are a couple more left and you need to go look for them.”
“Fire safety is each and every one’s responsibility. If I am practicing fire safety and you, my neighbour, is not practicing, then I could be burnt out, I could be killed. So it is each and everyone’s responsibility to practice safe housekeeping wherever we are, whether at home or at work.”
Baizar says his men are constantly out in the community talking at schools on a daily basis about fire safety.
