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Joe Reporting on Fire Safety in Burton-on-Trent


If your house was on fire, would you try to put it out, or would go outside?

On the 24 th January 2012, a woman caught fire and burned to death as a result of catching her sleeve on a gas hob. The next day, another woman narrowly escaped large injuries after she tried to tackle a fire in her house. The strange thing about this incident was that the woman was told to leave her house and wait outside for the fire service; instead she tried to save her valuables!

This raises the question of whether people are widely aware of the dangers of fire and smoke, and whether enough people have smoke alarms installed in their houses. Maybe if fire services, not just in Burton-on-Trent but nationwide, made sure that more people listened to their advice, then less people would be at risk.

More than half of the accidental fires in Britain from 2010-11 started from cooking. Other common causes of fires include: dropped cigarettes, malfunctioning electrical appliances and space heating appliances.

In the event of a fire in your home, the advice I would give would be as follows. If you are in the same room as the fire and your exit isn’t blocked, make your way outside and call the emergency services. If you are trapped, get everybody into a safe room, preferably with a phone and window in it, and wait for the fire brigade. If none of this is possible do not panic and call for help. When you make it out, do not try to tackle the fire and wait calmly for the fire service to arrive.

I interviewed someone in the local community on their thoughts about fire safety in our area:


Q: Do you feel that people are widely aware of the dangers of fire and smoke?

A: Not everybody, no.


Q: Why do you think that some people try to battle the fires in their home even though they have been told to stay away?

A: I think it’s because they want to protect their house. They think that they’re in control of the situation and they don’t know how quickly fire can spread.


Q: Who is more at risk to fires?

A: The elderly, because they can be forgetful and leave things on like the gas hob. I also think that smokers are at risk because they accidentally start more fires than anybody else.


Q: What procedure do you think you should take if a fire starts in your home?

A: First, stay calm. Do not panic. Then raise the alarm, get everyone together and make your way to the nearest exit.


To conclude, I think that we should all try to spread the importance of fire more widely. Regarding your own safety in the home, make sure you remember to turn off everything when you have finished with it to minimize the risk of fire. Stay safe!