The primary responsibility of the Warrenville Fire Protection District is the protection of life and property. With this thought in mind we must have thorough training and drills, to keep developing our intelligence, knowledge and skills so that we continue to be competent and responsible paramedics and firefighters.
The image of this department is to reflect service, goodwill, helping hands, a spirit that "a firefighter is your friend", someone to turn to for help no matter what the occasion or emergency.
With these thoughts in mind, here are some reasons why our department especially, the Fire Prevention Bureau must sometimes flex its muscles in order to correct problems both residentially and commercially.
Even though the United States is the most technologically advanced country in the world, we still lead the western world in fires, fatalities, injuries and property destruction from the ravages of fire.
Here is an idea of the scope of the problems today in the United States, not taking into account the events of 9/11/01. According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), fire departments responded to 1,734,500 fires in 2001, an increase of 1.6% from 2000; 521,500 of those were structure fires, an increase of 3.2%; 76% of those fires were in residential properties. There were 6,196 deaths of which 2,451 were the result of the 9-11-01 tragedy. Still 3,110 deaths occurred in the home. Nation wide there was a fire death every three hours and an injury from fire every 34 minutes.
The bottom line is every 18 seconds a fire department responds to a fire somewhere in this country, a fire occurs in a structure every 60 seconds. Other types of calls have various times, for example a vehicle fire occurs every 90 seconds, outside fires every 34 seconds.
What these statistics point out is that even with the fire prevention and building codes we have and even with the tremendous technology we have, it will take great personal commitment to reduce these terrible numbers, commitment by everyone. The feeling that it can't or won't happen here is a fallacy. So when the inspectors come into businesses or if you call for a voluntary home inspection – remember they are trying to help by pointing out discrepancies. The sooner you remedy the problem, the safer you and your family, customers or employees will be.
