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| Obstruction to emergency crew access due to constricted corridor (left). Ambulance crew and wheel chair bounded person requires at least 1.2 metres clear width for access (right). PHOTO: SCDF |
All
it takes is a carelessly tossed lighted material like a cigarette
butt to spark off a blaze fuelled by discarded items in a common
corridor.
Such
fires make up about 22 per cent of residential fires in 2011 - the
second largest type of residential fires.
The
Singapore Civil Defence Force’s (SCDF) annual statistics for 2011
reported an 11.6 per cent drop in the number of such fires; from 801
cases in 2010 to 708 in 2011.
While
the improvement is good news, SCDF hopes to prevent even more cases.
Considering
public feedback and working with the Town Councils and Housing and
Development Board (HDB), SCDF has developed more specific guidelines
on the safe and acceptable use of common corridors.
The
enhanced guide will not only help streamline the public use of common
corridors but will facilitate Town Councils in managing its use.
Starting
from Feb 2012, the SCDF, in collaboration with the National Fire and
Civil Emergency Preparedness Council (NFEC) and Town Councils will be
conducting a public education campaign to raise awareness about the
new guidelines.
Publicity
posters will go up in some parts of the neighbourhood and pamphlets
will be distributed during Emergency Preparedness Days and Community
Emergency Preparedness Programmes.
Discarded
items in common areas like corridors, staircases and lift landings
can fuel fires, block evacuation routes and hinder emergency
responders from getting to victims in an emergency.
SCDF
encourages residents to call Town Councils to help remove bulky items
like cupboards and sofas and adopt the new safety guidelines.
Over
the years, SCDF has been working with the councils to reduce the
number of fires in HDB estates.
This
includes putting up public education banners since 2009 and holding
dialogues.
While
residential fires make up the largest type of fires with 3,254 cases
in 2011, the overall number of blazes had decreased to a 15-year low
in 2011.
SCDF
said public education efforts by SCDF and their community partners
such as NFEC and the Community Emergency and Engagement Committees
(C2Es) had helped.
One
such effort that helps bring the message closer to home is the
post-fire public education blitz.
Today,
after a fire at a residential block, SCDF will work with the
neighbourhood’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and Town
council to set up a mobile exhibition at the void deck of the
affected block.
To
drive home the damaging impact of fires, the exhibition will show
actual pictures of the post-fire scene.
In
addition, CERT members will visit house-to-house to raise fire safety
awareness and distribute pamphlets with fire prevention tips.
Another
initiative is the Civil Defence (CD) Ready Homes programme.
Launched
in April 2011, 16,000 households have taken part.
The
programme educates the public on the need to be emergency prepared
and it provides a checklist to help residents assess if they have are
adequately prepared for a crisis.
SCDF
hopes more people will get themselves emergency prepared as fire
safety is a collective community responsibility and everyone should
play their part.
Click
here
to get the CD Ready Home self-validation checklist which is available
in all four official languages on SCDF’s website. You can also
collect it at Civil Defence Divisions and Community Clubs.
To
see the enhanced fire safety guidelines for the use of common areas,
click here.