The Washington State Fire Marshal’s Office (SFMO) is promoting Community Risk Reduction Week, which takes place from Jan. 20 through Jan. 26.
“This campaign promotes CRR, a data-driven process that identifies and prioritizes fire and life safety risks, then strategically invests resources to reduce their occurrence and impact,” according to the office. “The goal of CRR is to build healthy, safe, and resilient communities by educating individuals about the important actions they can take to keep themselves safe and prepared before an emergency occurs.”
In 2018 in Washington, a fire department responded to a fire every 17 minutes, according to the Fire Marshal’s Office. In other statistics, a home fire occurred every 48 minutes in Washington and a structure fire occurred every 53 minutes.
Fires caused 67 civilian deaths, 161 civilian injuries, and an estimated $225 million in property damage and more than 9,300 wildfires burned 1.5 million acres of land in Washington in 2019.
For more information about fire safety and prevention go to www.wsp.wa.gov/prevention-data-collection.
