BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - OVER the next few days, some 100 children will be educated about the dangers of fire and offered safety tips at the St. Kitts and Nevis Fire and Rescue Services (SKNFRS) Annual Fire Safety Programme.
The three-day Programme is aimed at teaching the children about fire, water and traffic safety, all in an effort to further decrease traffic accidents and house fires involving children.
Speaking at the official opening at the Basseterre Fire Station yesterday morning (July 24), Natalie Fough of the St. Kitts Red Cross Society gave details of how the Programme came into existence.
She said it began under the theme "Making a safe tomorrow through the eyes of our youths" and noted that years later it still fits the Programme.
Fough stated that children are vulnerable during the summer time as they "find excessive activities" in which they engage, such as "playing with matches as a past-time which causes devastation and eventually put financial strain on the parents and guardians".
She posited that firemen could no longer be viewed as "just a person holding a hose to extinguish a fire", but must be proactive and move in the prevention stage which, she emphasised, is what they are doing with the Programme.
"The objectives were to target children at an early age with the information so as to reduce the incidents of careless use of fire and any other related incidents, to disseminate information to youths so that there can be a reduction of fires caused by unsupervised children using any flammable objects, to create a safe environment and save the lives of our future generation, to reduce the statistics of the profit and loss caused by active irresponsible youthful hands, and to instil a future skill in today's youth," Fough explained.
She expressed her appreciation, as the founder of the Programme, that it remains a part of the calendar of events for the SKNFRS, describing it as "our way of contact with the public, in particular the primary school age which is the receptive audience".
Fough encouraged the children to pay close attention to what they would be taught over the next three days so that when they return to their respective homes they could inform their parents about what they learned.
She also encouraged parents and guardians to listen to their children "because you might learn something from them that you never knew before".
Also speaking at the ceremony was the Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs, Homeland Security, Labour, Justice and Legal Affairs, the Hon. Patrice Nisbett, who declared the Programme officially opened.
He congratulated the Fire Officers for their involvement in the Programme, adding that "it shows that the Fire and Rescue Services take their roles seriously and are willing to engage our children in the area of fire prevention".
"This,” he added, “is a very good approach by the officers to build relationship with members of the general public, especially our children. It is always very positive when professionals can spend time with children and to share information with them, as they will do in this Programme.”
The Programme is being held at all Fire Stations in St. Kitts - Basseterre, Sandy Point and Tabernacle. It was also recently held by the Nevis Division on that island.
The Programme is in its 11th year and caters to children aged five to 12.
