Just 104 fire departments in 36 of the state’s counties have received the Fire Safe designation. The communities designated under this program continuously work to reduce fire related injuries in our state, thereby decreasing the risks for residents and firefighters. They also promote consistent fire safety messaging and stress the importance of providing all relative data collected at fire scenes. These communities were recognized during a formal award ceremony at the annual Fire-Rescue Conference in Myrtle Beach last week.
To earn the “Fire Safe South Carolina” designation, fire departments completed courses to improve data quality, trained community partners to deliver in-home safety visits, and further developed their skills through National Fire Academy courses in risk reduction and assessment.
Across the state in 2021, 366 new community partners were identified, more than 1,000 fire service members were educated on risk reduction-related topics, and nearly 500,000 residents were educated on fire and life safety topics by their local fire departments.
Battalion Chief Michael Banks said, “We congratulate all members of Colleton County Fire - Rescue on this achievement and thank them for their efforts to keep our community safe and we thank County Council for their support in our Fire Prevention programs.”Fire-Rescue offers free smoke alarms for county residents. Firefighters will come to your home and install the detectors free of charge. Anyone interested can call Fire-Rescue Headquarters at (843) 539-1960.
