Reflection paper on fire prevention
Historical event that had an effect on the modern fire prevention practices
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire that occurred in 1911 in New York City was the fatal calamity in the olden times of the city. The fire resulted to the demises of 146 clothing where some passed on from the fire, falling to their deaths or smoke breathing. Most of the victims came from Italy and were women aged between 16-23 years old (Getzinger, D., 2009).After the occurrence of Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire, some measurers were put in place including building codes and guidelines. These would cause fires less probable to flinch and blowout to the buildings in the vicinity. Fire prevention and fire suppression are some of the factors that started to be put in place. In addition, new systems and resources for avoiding fires were established. Hydrants, extinguishers, fire alarms, and sprinkler systems are devices that easened the response to fires more hastily and competently. More people started specializing in scheming, mounting, fixing, and preserving fire-prevention systems (Getzinger, D., 2009).
Thoughts about the concepts from the unit's Reading Assignment
According to this article, the main motivation of fire departments is depression where it is believed that if fire departments were to respond to fire outbreaks and bring them under control, its obligations would be achieved. However, I differ with this concept because it concentrates on solving the problem of fire outbreak when it has already occurred instead of preventing it. In my view, more investment should be made on prevention measures rather than trying to solve the problem when it has already occurred. The article also mentions the integration of education of firefighters, investigators, inspectors, etc. Educating these groups of personnel make the fire prevention system strong and robust since it includes joined forces. One group of professionals alone cannot eradicate the entire issue of fire prevention. Therefore, the role of National Professional Qualifications System which is responsible for state certification of fire service personnel should be protected and supported (Mcguire-Wolfe, et al, 2013).
According to this article, educating the public on the steps to take in case of fire occurrence is a key factor in fire prevention. This is crucial because the fire prevention personnel may not be in the point of fire incidence at the time of fire break out. Therefore, coordination with the public would help a great deal in reducing deaths caused by fires. However, this article mentions education of all people irrespective of age. Some of the fire victims are infants and training them on fire prevention measures may not be of help since they have little understanding of the same (Texas., 1937).
Increasing the public's awareness about the importance of reacting to a fire
First, there should be more public training on fire prevention measures by ensuring that every working institution has a fire assembly point and clear outlined steps to be taken by the employees in case of a fire break out. Secondly, there should be numerous adverts on media platforms to train the public on fire prevention measures. In addition, all buildings should be installed with fire extinguishers and training on how to operate them be conducted to the members of the public. The public should be encouraged to report arsons to the relevant authorities for adequate actions to be taken (Mcguire-Wolfe, et al, 2013).