The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Section Two The Canadian Statesman, Bowmanville, October 8, 1975 5 That Doesn't Have to Happen During the time it takes to read this article, there will be approximately 100 destructive fires throughout the United States. These will cause roughly $100,000 in property damage. A dozen persons will be injured, some them crip- pled or disfigured for life. Within 44 minutes, on the average, another human being will be killed by fire. The cost in pain and suffering is no less staggering. Each year, 12,000 Americans are killed and another 300,000 are injured by fire. Its favorite victims are the very young, the old, and the poor. The death rate among children under five and persons over retirement age is more than twice that of the population as a whole. Why is an insurance com- pany so concerned with home fire safety? Obviously fires cost us money, but our concern is not totally self- motivated. A company, such as The Hartford, is not a solid mass hewned from granite. It is thousands of people leaving their homes and families and traveling to work everyday. In other words, we ourselves are burnable. Fire prevention con- cerns each of us individually and it should concern you, the independent agent, as well as our policyholders. About 40 per cent of all indoor fires are caused by faulty heating, cooking and electrical equipment. 23 per cent are caused by careless smoking or by children play- ing with matches. Open flame and sparks account for an- other nine per cent, and nearly an equal number are deliber- ately set. Other causes bring the total to just under one million building fires each year. Of the thousands who die annually in burning buildings nine out of ten die at home. It may be a small child who tried to hide from fire in a closet or under the bed. It may be an adult who panicked and was later found only a few feet from an obvious avenue of escape. It may be an entire famly overcome in their sleep by smoke and toxic fumes. It happens all the time, and usually for the same reasons a child was left home unatten- ded, an adult fell asleep while smoking in bed, a family failed to establish fire escape procedures. Fire has a long list of causes, all of which shouldtbe known b every American adult an school age child. We talk about the five ways in which fire kills, but it can really be summarized in two words: apathy and ignorance. Night Fires The Worst You may not know that flames are the least deadly of the ways in which fire can kill. According to the figures, you stand a far greater chance of being overcome by smoke, toxic fumes, or lack of oxygen. These ma kill you outright or they may amper your escape bv cloudin vour vision and judgment. More than half of those who die at the scene of a fire are killed by inhaling the products of combustion. Of those who live long enough to reach a hospital, 42 per cent die from injuries to the lungs. Fatalities occur most often between midnight and six a.m. Many victims simply never awaken, but many others die needlessly through their own actions in the face of fire. When fire strikes at night, your natural inclination is to throw open the bedroom door and rush down the hall to alert family members and flee to safety. But you may in fact be opening the door to super- heated air, smoke, and poison gas - any one of which can kill you before you take two steps down the hall. Your only chance of survival in such circumstanées is to keep the door closed and hope there is an alternative means of es- cape. Whenever possible, evacu- ate your family first and then call the fire department. Do not waste precious minutes trying to put out a fire which can't be contained. And do not risk further trnígedy by at- tempting a rescue through thick smoke and flames. This may seem like nothing more than common sense, but logic Financing is Available You May Use Your Beaver Lumber Credit Card Chargex and Master Charge Also Honored is a precious commodity in time of: fire. Nighttime fires are a frigh- tening and desperate experi ence, and a single false move may bring disaster. Recogniz- ing this, The National Fire Prevention Association bas sponsored a program call Operation EDITH, which stands for Exit Drills In The Home. Families are advised to plan escape routes and rehearse procedures to be followed in the event of fire. Where escape may be blocked by smoke and flame, an alternate exit is established. This is especially important for bedrooms which open into a single hallway. If the hallway becomes impassable, family members must know how to escape through win- dows to safety. In many cases, fire ladders will have to be installed to prevent injuries. Another area of concern is clothing fires, especially those involving young children. ihe largest percentage of such accidents involve children who play with matches or cigarette lighters. Next in order of frequency are those caused by contact with gas or electric stoves. Altogether some three thousand Ameri- cans die each year after their clothes catch fire, and more than 150,000 are injured. Roughly one victim in four is a child under ten, but what is most disturbing is the large number who were left unat- tended at the time of the accident. Fully one quarter of all children who die by fire are alone or without proper super- vision. For the most part, these are not cases of willful neglect. Think how often you may have been tempted to dash down to the corner grocery while your kids were watching TV. Or erhaps you left a small chi d at home while driving the others to school. These are exactly the circumstances which have brought tragedy to thousands of American families. We are the richest and most technologically advanced na- tion on earth. Yet fire in this country accounts for more death and destruction each year than in any other industrialized nation. Commitment Needed What makes this so appal- ling is the fact that the solution to fire loss is within relatively easy reach. It does not require a breakthrough in technoiogy. Itdoeslnot require a massive commitment of federal man- power and dollars. What it does req uire is a commitment from ail of us to help reduce the death and destruction of fire. The National Commission on Fire Prevention and Con- trol belieyes that a 50 per cent reduction in fire loss is feasible within the next gener- ation. The chief obstacle, in the opinion of many experts, is a lack of public awareness and concern. The fact is that most destructive fires get started through the careless actions of people. And most losses can be greatly reduced if people know what steps to take in the event of fire. The 1973 report by the National Commission of Fire Prevention and Control stated that: Among the many measures which can be taken to re duce fire losses, perhaps none is more important thari educating people about fire. Americans must be made aware of the magnitude of fire's toll and its threat to them personally. They must know how to minimize the risk of fire in their daily sur- roundings. They must know how to cope with fire, quick- ly and effectively, once it has started. Public educa tion about fire has beer cited by many Commission witnesses and others as theý single activity with the grea- test potential for reducing tosses. BE A+BLOOD DONOR Do You Need Money? $2,000 - $50,000 - lst, 2nd or 3rd Mortgages - Cut Your Payments in Half - Consolidate All Your Loans - Pay Off an Existing Mortgage - Combine 2 Mortgages into One - Purchase or Improve Property Any Worthwhile Purpose Farms-Commercial - Residential Mike Coughlin Tel. 705-743-2501 Great Northern Financial Corp. - SAME DAY APPROVALS -