West Yorkshire Fire Service to protect elderly

The West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service is looking to further protect the area’s elderly and vulnerable through a new initiative to carry out more home fire safety checks. The Fire Service is looking to work with community-based bodies to identify who would be of most benefit from such checks as many elderly in the area suffer from reduced mobility and might find it difficult to escape in the event of a fire.

The mobility-impaired are at the greatest risk of danger when a fire breaks out in the home and while mobility aids have come on a long way, with electric-powered stairlifts now featuring battery backups so that the stairlift user isn’t stranded should their home suffer a power cut, fire is still a cause for concern.

The most vulnerable

Through working with local community bodies, the Fire Service is hoping to find and help those most at risk in the west Yorkshire area. Once identified, the Fire Service hope to help these particular vulnerable residents through not only the installation of smoke detectors, but also educating elderly and mobility-reduced residents about fire dangers and how they can reduce the risk of a fire in the home.

This subject is, of course, a very serious one and one that is being tackled in earnest by the Fire Service, who hope to reduce the number of people at risk of a potentially lethal fire in the home. As many of the vulnerable residents targeted by the Fire Service live on their own, it is even more important to ensure that they are fully aware of what they can do to prevent such unnecessary risks.

Prospective partners are meeting with the Fire Service to attend some free training at the community room at Bradford Fire Station. They will also receive advice on how to advise people on fire safety and how to refer them to the fire service.

Alongside such measures that can reduce the risk of fire in the home, elderly and mobility restricted residents can also avoid the risk of falls in the home by following advice and using helpful products such as the range of Handicare walk in baths and showers, which help make bathing safer and easier.

Image Credit: Dan Foy (flickr.com)