County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service is working with partners to raise awareness of the dangers of smoking and consuming excess alcohol. Firefighters based at Durham Fire Station launched the brand new safety initiative aimed at encouraging members of the public to take greater care when drinking alcohol or smoking cigarettes.

The official launch took place on 5th August in Durham City's Palace Green.  The idea behind the initiative follows a spate of serious house fires in County Durham and Darlington where carelessly discarded cigarettes and excessive consumption of alcohol were both found to be common factors in causing fires.

The initiative is actually a partnership between a number of different organisations based in the North of England; County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, the Community Alcohol Service (CAS), the British Lung Foundation - North of England, Balance, the North East Alcohol Office and County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service. 

As a result the firefighters have now received training in a number of new areas all linked to improving health. The training included; Brief Intervention training (Stop Smoking), Alcohol Screening training and Respiratory Care training. 

Part of the role of a firefighter is to proactively engage with the community in a variety of different ways and, where possible provide clear guidance on home fire safety. This advice will now be extended to include advice or guidance on smoking cessation, alcohol awareness or respiratory care. The respiratory care training will allow firefighters to increase the levels of safety in the home of the vulnerable groups within our communities that require medical oxygen cylinders on their premises due to having chronic lung problems. 

To help members of the public remember the advice given, firefighters will offer them an ‘ICE’ card. ICE simply stands for In Case of Emergency and on one side of the credit card sized cards is a writable strip where the phone number is to be written of someone that the emergency services can contact if the need should arise. This may be the telephone number of a husband, wife, partner, sister, brother, parent or guardian. 

The credit card sized cards can then be kept secure in a purse or wallet. On the reverse of the cards is a simple message from one of the partners. For example in the case of the Community Alcohol Service there is a telephone number for confidential advice and support if they are concerned about either their own or someone else’s levels of drinking. 

In fact the main reason for producing the ICE cards in the first place was to signpost the support services that are available here in County Durham. For example it is believed that 70% of smokers want to stop, but many are not aware that there is free, local help available to them. 

Crew Manager John Cuerden, who is a member of Green Watch at Durham Fire Station, says that people shouldn’t underestimate the dangers associated with smoking in the home if cigarettes aren’t properly extinguished.  The economic price of a house fire is immense and you can’t put a cost on the lives of loved ones. Excessive alcohol consumption too is a real problem and it is our aim to encourage people in County Durham and Darlington to reduce how much alcohol they drink so not only can they live healthier lives but they do so more safely as well. Therefore, part of our role will be to raise awareness of what the recommended daily limits for drinking alcohol are. 

Significant funding for the initiative has been provided by County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust and Balance, and both organisations are delighted to be working in partnership with the Fire Service. This new partnership will jointly promote respiratory care, smoking and alcohol issues along with fire safety messages. It will hopefully lead to an increase in the numbers of people who quit smoking and reduce the amount of alcohol they drink which will offer significant health benefits and a reduction in serious house fires thereby reducing serious injury. 

The best way to reduce your risk from smoking is to give up. However, for smokers finding it tough to kick the habit, the advice from County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service is to be cautious when smoking at home and to ‘put it out, right out!’ after finishing a cigarette. 

Smokers can improve the safety in their homes by taking a few simple precautions; 

• Never smoke in bed - it's very easy to fall asleep and allow your cigarette to set light to your bedclothes or furnishings
• Don’t smoke if you’re drowsy - especially if you're sitting in a comfortable chair or if you've been drinking or taking prescription drugs
• Don’t leave a lit cigarette, cigar or pipe lying around – they can easily overbalance and land on the carpet or other flammable material
• Make sure your ashtray is heavy and can’t tip easily
• Make sure your cigarette butts (and any remains in your pipe bowl) aren’t still smouldering when you’ve finished with them; wet them and empty your ashtray into a metal bin outside the house
• Keep lighters, matches and smoking materials out of the reach of children – you can also buy child-resistant lighters and containers for matches 

Remember; More people die in fires caused by smoking than in fires caused by anything else. Tobacco is manufactured to stay alight, meaning it can remain smouldering and start a fire.

If you require additional information contact Crew Manager John Cuerden jcuerden@ddfire.gov.uk or Watch Manager Gary Bankhead gbankhead@ddfire.gov.uk