Don’t drink and fry, have a takeaway. These are the messages from Cleveland Fire Brigade, and London Fire Brigade this Christmas.
With a third of all fatal accidental house fires being alcohol related, fire chiefs across the country are warning the public to be extra-careful when indulging in a drop of Christmas cheer.
Cleveland’s Stay Safe and Celebrate campaign, launched at the start of December, is designed to raise awareness of common causes of house fires during Christmas.
Some of the advice includes buying food on the way back from a night out, rather than cooking yourself, making sure cigarettes are completely extinguished, and testing smoke alarms weekly.
Les Jones, Head of Community Safety said: “We want people to enjoy themselves over Christmas, but we want them to do it safely. It only takes one act of carelessness when cooking to result in someone losing their home, their possessions or their life.
“Often the person who has been drinking will not wake up when a fire takes hold, particularly if they do not have a working smoke alarm. Even when the alarm is raised and firefighters enter the home, it is not uncommon for a person to have lost consciousness and died through smoke inhalation.”
Social media campaign
Meanwhile, the London Fire Brigade have just launched a similar campaign, ‘Have a Takeaway’, which features the slogans ‘Last night a burger saved my life!’ and ‘Fire safety equipment’ above a picture of a burger.
Young professionals
Members of Mosaic group G tend to:
- be degree educated
- live in smart rented flats
- earn more than £40,000 a year
- enjoy keeping fit
- Go to the cinema twice a month, regularly go clubbing and drink alcohol more than three times a week
This campaign is being advertised across the capital in tube stations, free papers and on social networks in an effort to reach young, well-educated, professionals who have been revealed to contribute to 25% of all accidental house fires in the capital.
Over 4,000 of the 18,000 house fires in London in the last three years were caused by members of the public who are part of Mosaic group G, who tend to be degree-educated and earn over £40,000.
As part of the promotion, people are encouraged to upload pictures of their takeaways to the fire services’ Facebook page for a chance to win £25 of takeaway vouchers.
London Fire Brigade Commissioner, Ron Dobson, said, “our message is simple, if you’ve had too much to drink, don’t go home thinking you’re on MasterChef. Too many fires start when someone has passed out, leaving a pizza in the oven or a pan on the hob and it can be fatal.”
