From staff reports
The Lady’s Island-St. Helena Fire District is one of 132 fire departments across the state to receive the “Fire Safe South Carolina” Community Designation from Fire Safe South Carolina (FSSC) and its partners for their active participation in developing community risk reduction (CRR) plans for their jurisdictions in 2022.
These designated communities continually work to reduce fire-related injuries in the state, thereby decreasing the risks for residents and firefighters. They also promote consistent fire safety messaging and stress the importance of providing all relative data collected at fire scenes.
“The enthusiasm for obtaining this designation continues to grow, and we remain encouraged by active participation,” Community Risk Reduction Chief Josh Fulbright said.
“We congratulate the 132 designees and are excited again to see a net-gain of more than 25 percent in those participating from last year,” he said. “We look forward to recognizing them with a formal award ceremony during the June Fire-Rescue Conference in Myrtle Beach.”
To earn the “Fire Safe South Carolina” designation, fire departments completed courses to improve data quality, trained community partners to deliver in-home safety visits, and further developed their skills through online National Fire Academy courses in risk reduction and assessment.
In 2022, 536 community partners were identified statewide, more than 2,500 fire service members were educated on risk reduction-related topics, and almost one million citizens were educated on fire and life safety topics.
“Nearly one million citizens were educated last year on ways to stay fire safe thanks to the commitment and dedication of our 132 Fire Safe South Carolina fire departments and our community partners,” Fulbright said. “The efforts will not stop there as we continue to work together to educate more people and make South Carolina fire safe.”
Launched in 2017, Fire Safe SC’s partners include the S.C. State Firefighters’ Association, the S.C. State Association of Fire Chiefs, the S.C. Fire Marshal Association, and the S.C. Chapter of the International Association of Arson Investigators.
