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Two bedridden women, ages 91 and 65, killed today in an early-morning Calhoun County fire bring the number of fire deaths statewide to 83 so far this year, and fire officials again are reminding Alabamians to be mindful of fire risks and fire safety.
The Alabama Fire Chiefs Association recently launched "Turn Your Attention to Fire Prevention," a statewide campaign to reduce the fire fatality rate. That effort got a big financial boost today.
Jon M. Seale, chief executive officer of Cardiac Solutions, pledged $50,000 over the next five years to the public education mission. Cardiac Solutions sells automated external defibrillators, among other medical devices. "There's no reason 400,000 people should die every day from cardiac arrest and there's no reason and there's no reason 83 people should die here in Alabama from fire,'' Seale said. "It's about creating awareness throughout the community."
Oxford Fire Chief Gary Sparks, also president of the Alabama Association of Fire Chiefs, was among representatives from at least 30 fire department from across central Alabama at today's new conference.
"We're meeting here at Station 14 to emphasize fire fatalities happen to everybody,'' Sparks said. "They happen in Birmingham, they happen in Adamsville, they happen in Foley and they happen in Huntsville."
Alabama usually averages 70 to 90 fire deaths a year. There were 81 in 2013, 92 in 2014 and 83 so far in 2015.
"It doesn't matter what part of the state, we want the message out that we want people to be fire safe,'' Sparks said.
Sparks said the money pledged today will go a long way in helping them to get out the word. "It's going to help us with advertising and record-keeping so we can come up with the statistics we need to see where they're happening and what's causing them so we can target those areas,'' Sparks said.
Firefighters and Seale said they are excited about the new partnership. "It's about saving lives,'' Seale said. "That's what we do."