VIJAYAWADA: The Fire Services and Disaster Response Department will be observing the ‘Fire Prevention Week’ from April 14 to 20, starting with the National Fire Services Day.
This year, the slogan taken up is “Prevent fire, adopt safe housekeeping practices and use approved electrical appliances”.
“Fire Services Day is observed as a mark of respect to the brave fire services personnel, who have laid down their lives fighting a major fire that erupted and the explosions that followed on April 14, 1944 at the Victoria Dock in the Bombay Port,” District Fire Officer D Niranjan Reddy said.
Explaining the various programmes planned during the Fire Prevention Week, he said a commemoration parade would be held in the city after observing two minutes of silence to pay homage to brave souls, who had died while fighting fire to save the lives and property of the people.
“Every day during the week, we will display fire safety methods, demonstrate fire fighting at important public places like bus stands, railway stations, malls and markets in the city,” he added.
During the week, there would also be fire prevention inspections and demonstrations at apartments and houses to highlight the LPG safety, pitfalls of careless smoking, fire hazards and electrical safety. Similarly, awareness programmes on fire safety measures would be conducted in educational institutions and hospitals, he added.
“All we want is to have people adopt fire safety precautions and be safe. We want them to alert the fire service personnel on 101 in case of fire,” he said. A poster and pamphlets for ‘Fire Prevention Week’ would be released on the occasion.