VALDOSTA – To celebrate 100 years of fire prevention, Lowndes County Fire Rescue kicked off the week with a fire safety ceremony and a proclamation from Lowndes County Commission Chairman Bill Slaughter and Commissioner Joyce Evans.

Lowndes County Manager Paige Dukes opened the celebration by praising the fire department for its focus on not only responding to emergencies but its emphasis on preventative measures.

“I think so many times in public safety, we’ve seen issues that arise. and immediately after that there’s a knee jerk reaction to overcome whatever that was. That there’s not usually a longevity to that. Everyone will have all the good ideas. and then as soon as sunset, and all that sort of dies down then we’re back to business as usual until there’s another issue, but that certainly has not been the case of our prevention,” she said.

“I also think there’s so many times we focus on our response, part of our budget, many of the questions and the information that we provide to the commissioners every year and the questions they have throughout the year on what resources our firefighters need to respond. But that same openness and that same level of dedication should also be focused on prevention. and our fantastic team does just that.”

Mark Maskule, fire marshal, reminded attendees that fire prevention should not be celebrated for just one week but for 365 days a year.

“This year’s theme is ‘Fire won’t wait; plan your escape.’ We recommend that everybody knows at least two ways out of every room in your home. When was the last time that you exercised the windows in each of those rooms and made sure that they’re going to open freely and then everybody can actually open those windows up?” he said.

“We also ask that you champion smoke alarms and change batteries out twice a year. We also ask you to actually sit down with your family and develop your own escape points. and we also hope that you’ll practice and escape so that everybody is well versed on how to get out of the house in case of an emergency.”

Before reading off the county’s proclamation, Slaughter spoke about the importance of keeping the community educated and thanked the fire rescue team for doing their part, as education is one of the hallmarks of prevention.

“I, Chairman Bill Slaughter on behalf of the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners, do hereby proclaim Oct. 9-15, 2022, as Fire Prevention Week throughout Lowndes County. I urge all Lowndes County residents to plan and practice a home fire safety escape for Fire Prevention Week 2022 and to support the many public safety activities and efforts of Lowndes County Fire Rescue,” he said.

For more information, visit https://www.lowndescounty.com/154/Fire-Safety-Prevention.