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TextHealth and Safety Podcast Transcript: Oct. 5, 2011
Hello, and welcome to the Fairfax County Health and Safety Podcast for
October 5, 2011. I’m Jim Person, Fairfax County emergency information
officer. Coming up, learn about the leading cause of home fires, how to
keep you mobile phone ready in case of emergency and some Halloween
costume safety tips. Links to topics mentioned in this podcast can be
found online at www.fairfaxcounty.gov.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) U.S. Fire
Administration (USFA) report,
Residential Building Fires (PDF) reports that an estimated 374,900
residential building fires are reported to U.S. fire departments each
year and cause an estimated 2,630 deaths, more than 13,000 injuries and
$7.6 billion in property loss. Cooking is the leading cause of
residential building fires (44 percent). The report also noted that
residential building fires occur most frequently in the early evening
hours, peaking during the dinner hours from 5 to 8 p.m., when cooking
fires are high. Further information is online at www.usfa.fema.gov. For more on fire
safety, visit the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department online at www.fairfaxcounty.gov/fr.
Before a disaster, here are a couple of tips to prepare your mobile phone so you are ready for any emergency:
-
Maintain a list of emergency phone numbers in your cellphone and in or
near your home phone.
-
Keep charged batteries and car-phone chargers available for backup
power for your cellphone.
- If you have a traditional landline (non-broadband or VOIP) phone, keep at least one non-cordless phone in your home because if it will work even if you lose power.
More information is online at www.ready.gov. Additional tips can also
be found at www.fairfaxcounty.gov/emergency/
and the new county emergency information blog at www.fairfaxcounty.gov/emergency/blog.
Halloween and trick-or-treat season is almost here. As parents ready
costumes for the annual event, make sure all costumes are flame
retardant. Most commercial costumes are made of flame-retardant material.
If you make your own costume, ask your fabric shop for flame-retardant
material. And when designing costumes or purchasing ready-made ones, be
sure that your children can see and be seen. Expand the eye holes in
commercial masks to improve peripheral vision, and add reflective tape to
costumes to make them more visible to motorists. More tips to enjoy a
safe trick-or-treating outing on our next podcast.
Finally, the “Emergency Support Function 15 Business/Nonprofit Update”
newsletter features emergency news and information for the business
community. The monthly PDF newsletter is posted on the county website.
Find the latest issue at www.fairfaxcounty.gov/emergency/esf15.htm.
That’s it for this edition of the Fairfax County Health and Safety Podcast, produced by the Fairfax County, Virginia government. Thanks for listening. Additional information about health and safety topics and emergency preparedness may be found online at www.fairfaxcounty.gov. And remember, if you have a police, fire or medical emergency, call 9-1-1. For non-emergency needs, call 703-691-2131.
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