CURRENT RED BULB COUNT: 10
In partnership with Santa Rosa County, Escambia County is promoting the importance of fire safety during the month of December with its “Keep the Wreath Green” campaign. To promote awareness, fire safety tips will be posted daily on Twitter @BeReadyEscambia from December 1 to 31 to remind citizens of simple ways to keep your family and home safe throughout the holiday season.
Located at 221 Palafox Place, Pensacola, a wreath will hang outside the Escambia County’s Ernie Lee Magaha Governmental Center building decorated with electric candles. Each time firefighters respond to a working fire causing damage, a candle will be “extinguished” and replaced with a card noting the basic details of the fire.
According to the United States Fire Administration, 76 percent of fire injuries affecting civilians occurred in our homes. Fires occurring during the holiday season claim the lives of over 945 people, injure 3,825 and cause over $1.7 billion in damage. Nationally, cooking is the leading cause of residential building fires in December, accounting for 41 percent of fires, followed by heating fires at 28 percent, open flame fires at nine percent and incendiary/suspicious fires seven percent.
For more information about the Keep the Wreath Green campaign, contact the Office of Public Information and Communications at [email protected] or at (850) 595-4934 and follow @BeReadyEscambia on Twitter for daily fire safety tips in December and to stay in the know yearround.
