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Tenth Annual Burn Awareness Week - February 5 to 11, 2006
Matches and Lighters Are Tools, Not Toys
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 16, 2006
VANCOUVER -- Matches and lighters in the hands of children are a major concern in every community across this province. Playing with fire causes millions of dollars in property damage and thousands of burn injuries and deaths every year across North America*.
On average, two out of every three child-playing fires -- and three out of four deaths and injuries -- involve matches and lighters. Among fatal home fires started by children playing, seven out of 10 involve children igniting bedding, mattresses, upholstered furniture or clothing. Just over half of child-playing fires in the home are started in a bedroom.
"Children will mimic adult’s behavior, and they don’t understand that matches and lighters are used as tools -- nor do they think to find an escape route if they start a fire,” says Terry Abrams, Chair of the Burn Awareness Week Program, and a Director of the BC Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund. “We must teach our children that matches, lighters, and other smoking material present a very great danger,” he says. “Some of the youngsters’ curiosity about matches can be channeled constructively by teaching the ‘matches are a tool’ concept.”
The BC Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund’s tenth annual BURN AWARENESS WEEK (BAW) program is designed to teach kids to be responsible for their own safety, and make their families aware of potentially harmful situations, like playing with matches. The website program contains animated and interactive pages, safety tips, teaching tips, and student activity sheets including tips on scald and steam burn safety, and a public service announcement on scald safety, which is available in English, French, Cantonese, Mandarin and Punjabi.
Originally designed as a classroom tool, the Burn Awareness Week program is accessible on line at www.burnfund.org/BAW. The opportunity to reach a broad base of people is important to the Burn Fund. The group includes students and teachers in public and private schools and their families, the families of preschoolers and those who home school their children, and new Canadians. The secondary group is the media, fire fighters and fire safety educators, health care workers and other members of the public.
The Burn Awareness Week program is available in French, Cantonese, Mandarin and Punjabi on the website. This translation service was made possible by a donation from the RBC Foundation, and coordinated by Channel M Multicultural Television.
The 2006 BURN AWARENESS WEEK TIPS AND INFORMATION will be available for download anytime after January 23, 2006. Please go to www.burnfund.org and click on the BURN AWARENESS WEEK icon.
The details include:
- Burn Awareness Week poster contest information for students – who can win $500 for their school
- Teacher and parent information to help teach children fire safety tips
- Fire safety tips activity sheets for all grade levels, from kindergarten to grade seven
- Animated videos and games to teach and reinforce fire safety messages
- Coloring pages that reinforce fire safety messages
- Reference material and links to more information about fire safety
- Scald Safety Public Service Announcement
AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEW Professional Fire Fighters from the provincial Burn Fund and from communities throughout the province are available to talk about burn prevention and safety. During Burn Awareness Week, local fire departments may be available to meet with media outlets. Please refer to the non-emergency number of local fire departments, listed in local telephone books.
The BC Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund sponsors the Burn Awareness Week Program. The Burn Fund provides life saving, life supporting, and life enriching services to the people in British Columbia.
More than 3,300 professional fire fighters around the province are building the Burn Fund’s vision. They dedicate their time and skills to support burn survivors and increase the public’s knowledge about fire and burn safety issues through the work the Burn Fund does with its Burn Awareness, Research and Prevention Programs. For complete information, visit www.burnfund.org.
Media contact: Margo Bates Publicity -- Telephone: 604-536-9501 E-Mail: pr@burnfund.org
AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEW:
Tony Burke, Executive Director, BCPFF Burn Fund
or
Terry Abrams, Director and Chair, Burn Awareness Week Program, BCPFF Burn Fund
Local Burn Fund Representatives in 46 communities throughout British Columbia
or
Local fire departments
* Source: This information is from the BC Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund, BC Fire Commissioner’s Office and the National Fire Protection Association. |
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