Basseterre, St. Kitts (July 11, 2007): The recent house fire at Sandy Point which claimed the lives of two young children emphasizes the importance of teaching fire safety to residents.

The tragedy occurred on Monday, two days ahead of the official start of the 2007 Summer Safety Programme organized by the St. Kitts and Nevis Fire and Rescue Services.

One hundred and fifty eight primary school students in St. Kitts and Nevis have registered for the three-day camp which is in its seventh year. It was held in Nevis last week and officially opened in St. Kitts today with a simultaneous launch in Basseterre, Tabernacle and Sandy Point.

Coordinator Everette O’Garro noted that the programme was developed in 2001 to teach children practices in fire, water, traffic and railway safety. He welcomed the participants and urged them to pay attention to the facilitators.

Senior Education Officer Michael Blake said the Ministry of Education is pleased to support this initiative and he congratulated the Fire Services for organizing the annual event. He explained that the ministry shared concerns with all areas in this course but the issue of traffic safety, which relates to children walking to school and fire safety, were of particular interest.

Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Cable and Wireless Robert Williams told the students aged 5 to 12 years that CEO Patricia Walters and the company have a keen interest in seeing this programme develop. He explained that the company supports educational, cultural and sporting programmes which develop individuals and this certainly is achieved by the safety course.

Mr. Williams added that he personally would like to see smoke detectors installed in every house. He encouraged the corporate community to promote this.

~~Adz:Left~~The sessions in Basseterre are being held at the Basseterre Fire and Rescue Services Headquarters while concurrent sessions will run at the Edgar T. Morris and Sandy Point Primary Schools.