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Residential Fire Injury Prevention Program

Currently, the South Carolina Fire Injury Prevention Program provides residential smoke alarm installation and fire safety education in Region 3 and 4. These Regions include Chester, Lancaster and York counties as well as Clarendon, Kershaw, Lee, and Sumter counties. Local coordinators there have been successful in partnering with local fire departments to provide residential smoke alarms and fire safety in homes that include the target population, young children and the elderly. This is second year that the program has operated within these Regions. Successful partnerships with local fire departments in these Regions have directly impacted the success of smoke alarm distribution and installation in the communities. In the first half of the current grant year, smoke alarm installation has already exceeded the total for last year.

Communities the program has targeted in previous years include Charleston County, Chesterfield County, Georgetown County, Horry County, Marlboro County, Orangeburg County, and Williamsburg County. Health Departments are still supplying the smoke alarms, and Fire Departments are still actively installing alarms. Currently the most active of these counties are Charleston County, Georgetown County, Horry County, and Williamsburg County.

Fire Facts

• Nationally, residential fires cost more than $8.6 billion per year.
• About 2 million fires are reported each year throughout the country. Of these fires, residential fires represent 22 percent of all fires and 74 percent of structure fires.
• It is estimated that, nationally, 40 percent of residential fires and over 60 percent of all residential fatalities occur in homes with no smoke alarm.
• Most fires occur between 10 p.m. and 6.a.m.
• The majority of all fatal fire victims were asleep at the time of the fire, underscoring the importance of smoke alarms.
• Residential fires kill and injure over 150 South Carolinians each year, costing millions of dollars in hospitalization, rehabilitation and property damage.
• Seventy-one percent of the fire deaths in South Carolina occurred in residential settings for the period 2000-2001.
• For the years 2000-2001, there were 134 residential fire deaths and over 200 injuries in South Carolina.
• Costs for hospitalization that included emergency room visits for that same period were over $12 million.
• South Carolina’s residential fire rate is almost double that of the US rate.
• The Center for Disease Control has ranked South Carolina in the top five in the nation for fire-related fatalities.
• The risk of death due to fire for children and senior citizens in South Carolina is over double the rate to a comparable population.
• The leading causes of fire are attributed to three major factors: heating, cooking and smoking.
• Almost half of the homes in South Carolina with a fire death in 2000-2001 did not have a working smoke alarm.

Residential Injury and Fire Prevention Safety Tips

• Install a working lithium battery powered smoke alarm in at least each level of your home.
• Test the alarms monthly by pushing the test buttons until the alarm sounds.
• Maintain your smoke alarm by dusting with a vacuum cleaner and removing grease buildup.
• Replace batteries in your smoke alarm at least once a year.
• Develop an escape plan.
• Choose a meeting place outside and in front of your home where all family members should meet.
• Practice your escape plan.
• Learn the emergency number for your fire department.
• If you see smoke, try another escape route.
• If you have to escape through smoke, crawl low with your head about two feet above the floor to your exit.
• Test doorknobs and the space between the door and its frame with the back of your hand before opening doors.
• If the door is warm, try another escape.
• Never go back into a building until the firefighters say it is safe.

For additional information contact:
Kaye Lowder 803.898.0363