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Bengal

Colourful booklet to highlight fire fighting measures

Kolkata: The state Fire and Emergency Services department has undertaken a unique approach to create awareness among school students in connection with fire safety and security. The department has come up with a booklet containing colourful pictorial illustrations regarding a series of precautionary measures that can be followed to curb fire accidents.

"We feel that awareness through children can create wonders when it comes to maintenance of safety measures to check fire. We will soon start distributing these attractive booklets among school and college students and they will take up the responsibility of educating their respective family members about some basic steps that can curb incidents of fire," said Sujit Bose, state Fire and Emergency Services minister.

The booklet begins with the picture of a mother educating her children about the steps that should be taken if a fire suddenly breaks out in a building. Switching off all electric lights and gadgets, opening up all doors and windows of the house, then vacating the building using the staircase preferably covering the face and nose with a piece of cloth are among the steps mentioned. This should be followed by an immediate call to the fire brigade. The book highlights rules to be followed in the kitchen including using the cooking gas carefully, having a proper instrument and not a piece of cloth to bring down something hot from the oven, opening the doors and windows immediately if there is any gaseous smell, avoid pouring kerosene when the stove is in burning condition etc. "The fire incidents in households occur mostly from the kitchen room and the use of cooking gas," a senior official in the Fire department pointed out. The other precautionary messages include keeping matchsticks away from reach of children, avoiding smoking while lying down on the bed, putting off switches of lights in case of a power cut, not to use too many electric gadgets through a single plug point etc. "All the messages in the book are short yet concise and illustrated with pictures so that curiosity to read it will arise automatically," the official added. It also tells elders to keep a close watch on their children when they celebrate Diwali and dial toll-free number 101 in case of an emergency. "Awareness is the key to fire fighting. If we all follow certain safety measures, we can keep ourselves protected. This is the main objective behind this approach," the minister added.

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