Winter Safety Campaign

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service has launched a Winter Safety Campaign which will promote fire safety issues over the winter months. Research carried out by the Fire Service have shown that over the winter months cooking related activity is the largest cause of accidental dwelling fires; the most at-risk people are those living alone, particularly older people.

The aim of the campaign is to raise awareness of fire risk issues associated with winter and to increase the generation of home fire safety check referrals, especially among vulnerable groups.

The campaign is split into two parts; the first running from 1st December to 1st January, which will focus on fire safety over the Christmas and New Year period, with an emphasis on cooking. The second part of the campaign is running from 1st January to 27th February and the focus will be on providing fire safety issues relating to cold weather.

The key messages of the campaign are:

• Those who live alone are more at risk of having a fire.
• We want to make sure that those who live alone are as safe as they can be particularly during the winter when cooking and the need to keep warm can put people at greater risk.
• People living alone, and especially older people, and those who still have a chip pan will be our highest priority for home fire safety checks during December.
• The need to keep warm during winter can sometimes mean people do things that might put them at greater risk of fire.