BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE annual St. Kitts-Nevis Fire & Rescue Services’ Summer Safety Programme officially began yesterday (Jul. 21) with an opening ceremony at the Basseterre Fire Station.
The programme, which is in its ninth staging, is aimed at targeting children between the ages of five and12 to sensitise them on important fire safety tips.
According to Fire Station Officer Everett O’Garro, the three-day programme would also include water and traffic safety tips.
“We realise during the summer months kids do a lot of picnics at the beach and on a daily basis they have to use the roadway to move back and forth; so we try to make it our programme as wholesome as possible over the three days,” he told SKNVibes.
He said that the programme started in 2002 and it was initiated because the organisers had seen a significant increase in incidents of careless fires involving children.
“Recently, we had a fatality in Sandy Point involving two kids and so this programme is geared towards or preventing these incidents from occurring,” O’Garro added.
He said that a volunteer from the Coast Guard Unit of the Defence Force would speak to the children on water safety during the programme which is scheduled to end tomorrow (Jul. 23).
O’Garro said that the programme has been a success, because they first started out with 55 children and the number has now increased to 168 registered children.
The Summer Safety Programme was declared open by Minister of National Security Hon. Sam Condor, and among those who made brief remarks were Deputy Fire Chief James Warner and Chief Education Officer Patrick Welcome.
The training activities begin from 9:00 a.m. and end at 12 noon.
