This article is from page 115 of the 2008-09-30 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 115 JPG
THE CLARE fire and rescue serv- ice has reported a decrease in the number of road traffic incidents around the county for the first eight months of the year.
Between January and August, the service was called to 148 road traf- fic incidents in Clare — a decrease of over 12 per cent on figures for the same period last year.
While it may have dampened the holiday spirit, the record-breaking rainfall of recent months led to a 55 per cent drop in the number of forest, grass and bog fire incidents. While house fires were up 8.5 per cent to 64, chimney fire call-outs dropped by 12 per cent. The overall number of incidents attended by the Service dropped from 879 to 823.
Chief Fire Officer Adrian Kelly said the number of fires in Clare was un-
acceptably high and there were five fire-related fatalities in the county between January and August. He en- couraged householders to learn more about fire prevention in the home.
He said that the decrease in the number of call outs to road traffic incidents showed that road safety awareness initiatives were having a positive impact in Clare’.
Expressing disappointment at the number of false alarms, Mr Kelly said there were 93 false alarms, 38 of which were malicious, between Jan- uary and August and these resulted in fire and rescue service resources being deployed unnecessarily.
The release of the statistics coin- cides with the Clare launch of Na- tional Fire Safety Week, which runs from October 6 to 13. The Clare Fire and Rescue Service will host a series of local prevention activities to heighten fire safety awareness.
Open station nights will be held at Ennistymon, Shannon, Ennis, Killa- loe, Scariff, Kilkee and Kilrush fire stations where local fire fighters will offer advice and give out leaflets and posters on fire prevention.
The open nights will be held in En- nistymon and Shannon on October 6; Ennis on October 7; Kilrush and Kilkee on October 8; Scariff and Killaloe on October 9.
Mr Kelly said fire safety week would highlight the importance of testing smoke alarms weekly, having an escape route planned and know- ing your obligations regarding fire safety in the home.
The fire service will also be asking schools and businesses to undertake fire drills during the week.