Ensure a Safe and Happy Thanksgiving

Community outreach campaigns are an effective tool for promoting public safety, and can help foster relationships with city leaders, local businesses, the media and civic groups. The IAFF encourages affiliates to use these kinds of programs to improve their public image and influence how they are perceived by decision makers and the public.

To assist you in these efforts, the IAFF has prepared a sample press release and infographics that can be customized to send to your local media and to citizens about your efforts to promote cooking safety on Thanksgiving.

Download the infographics.

Download the press release. Send the press release (and infographic) to the media as soon as possible. Then, be sure to contact reporters to let them know you are available to discuss tips for ensuring a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

Also, use the suggested Tweets below:

Thanksgiving Tweets

• Did you know that #cooking leads to the most home fires on #Thanksgiving Day? #BeCareful
• A #cooking fire is three times more likely to happen on #Thanksgiving Day than any other day of the year! #BeCareful
• Peak #cooking hours for #Thanksgiving are between noon and 4:00 pm. #ItsTurkeyTime
• Stay alert while cooking this #Thanksgiving to avoid #homefires
• @RedCross says that home fires are the most common #disaster in the nation! #StayAlert
• Make sure you #PayAttention to all cooking materials and don't leave anything flammable near a heat source! #BeAlert
• @IAFFnewsdesk urges you to call 9-1-1 if you experience a #cooking fire and your local #firefighters will be there ASAP
• @IAFFnewsdesk and professional #firefighters and #paramedics wish you a very happy and safe #Thanksgiving
• Your local #firefighters advise you to cook with #caution and #PayAttention in the kitchen
• Misusing equipment in the kitchen can very quickly lead to a #HomeFire, so make sure you #StayAlert

The release and graphic can also be used for posts on social media.

In the coming months, the IAFF will continue to provide more ideas and materials to use in community outreach efforts.

Stay up to date with the approaching weather statements - click the links above

~ Think Safety

Anytime a child has an accident, it's tragic. The last thing that you want to happen is for your child to be hurt on a holiday, it would forever live in the minds of the child and the family.

There are many ways to keep your child safe at Halloween, when they are more prone to accidents and injuries. The excitement of children and adults at this time of year sometimes makes them forget to be careful. Simple common sense can do a lot to stop any tragedies from happening.

~ Help your child pick out or make a costume that will be safe. Make it fire proof, the eye holes should be large enough for good peripheral vision

~ If you set jack-o-lanterns on your porch with candles in them, make sure that they are far enough out of the way so that kids costumes won't accidentally be set on fire.

~ Make sure that if your child is carrying a prop, such as a scythe, butcher knife or a pitchfork, that the tips are smooth and flexible enough to not cause injury if fallen on

~ Treating your kids to a spooky Halloween dinner will make them less likely to eat the candy they collect before you have a chance to check it for them.

Make Halloween a fun, safe and happy time for your kids and they'll carry on the tradition that you taught them to their own families some day!

Tips are from Halloweensafety.com 

~ Teaching your kids basic everyday safety such as not getting into cars or talking to strangers, watching both ways before crossing streets and crossing when the lights tell you to, will help make them safer when they are out Trick or Treating.

~ Kids always want to help with the pumpkin carving. Small children shouldn't be allowed to use a sharp knife to cut the top or the face. There are many kits available that come with tiny saws that work better then knives and are safer, although you can be cut by them as well. It's best to let the kids clean out the pumpkin and draw a face on it, which you can carve for them.

 Frozen Water Pipes?

BANGOR – The Bangor Fire Department offers the following advice in preventing and handling frozen pipes. Home owners can use hair dryers, heat tape or space heaters on the affected areas. DO NOT use any open flames such as torches, to thaw the pipes!

To prevent frozen pipes run tap water on cold nights or install foam insulation sleeves around your pipes. For more information, call 992 4700.