Caribou Fire Dept. selected for 2007 Life Safety Achievement Award

    The Caribou Fire Department was recently informed it had been selected to receive the Life Safety Achievement Award for the year 2007, by the Residential Fire Safety Institute(RFSI). The award was announced by Roy L. Marshall, director of the RFSI.     For 15 years, the Life Safety Achievement Award has recognized the local fire prevention activities that contributed to reducing the number of lives lost in residential fires. The Caribou Fire Department qualiri3e for this award in year 2007, because it recorded zero fire deaths in structures during that year.
    Although residential fires in the U.S. account for only 20 percent of all fires, they result in 80 percent of all fire deaths. The RFSI is committed to reducing that number. A total of 745 fire departments received the 2007 Life Safety Achievement Award.
    “Experience tells us that fire prevention activity and public education can significantly reduce life and property loss from residential fires,” Marshall said. “Prevention and education are very cost effective compared to the traditional approach of relying on fire suppression. The Life Safety Achievement Award recognizes fire departments for their fire prevention efforts and encourages them to continually improve those efforts.”
    The RFSI is a public interest group whose mission is to reduce residential fire deaths and injuries. The RFSI advocates the use of residential fire sprinklers, smoke alarms, carbon monoxide detectors and teaching people fire-safe behavior.
    The RFSI assists fire departments with implementing residential sprinkler/smoke alarm programs on a local basis.
    The RFSI’s membership includes the United States Fire Administration, the National Association of State Fire Marshals and private industry’s associations with an interest in and commitment to residential fire safety.