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Safety drive drug-use target
Ben Evans Senior Reporter, South Wales Evening Post, Tuesday 23rd November 2004
DRUG-USERS at risk of accidentally setting fire to their own homes could be targeted in a new safety campaign in Swansea.
Talks are being set up between Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service and the West Glamorgan Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse to run the project in the city.
It is already being run in Neath Port Talbot where it has proved to be a success.
Now bosses at WGCADA are hoping to start a similar scheme in Swansea and are looking at starting discussions with the fire service in the city to look at ways of running it.
Specially-trained staff being sent into the homes of people at risk in Neath Port Talbot to try to prevent tragedies before they happen.
Problems such as chip pan fires and the lack of smoke alarms in the houses of people deemed vulnerable because of their addictions are among those tackled.
As a result the fire brigade will then arrange for the fitting of safety equipment in some of the homes.
Similar initiatives in the past have involved vulnerable elderly people but this is the first to be aimed at people dependent on substances or who are abusing them.
They risk not only injuring or killing themselves but also their families and neighbours.
Chief Fire Officer Doug Mackay said: "We recognise that certain people are more at risk of being involved in fire and we are introducing measures to deal with them.
"These include people with drug and alcohol problems and people living in deprived areas.
"Those with alcohol and drug problems are most at risk and we are working closely with organisations who are helping them."
Most house fires started in the kitchen and were predominantly linked with frying.
And one of the biggest problems, he said, was the man who had been out drinking and who fell asleep while chips were cooking.
"It is all about risk management and identifying the causes of fire and trying to prevent them occurring in the future," said Mr Mackay.
Around 20 WGCADA staff have been trained to carry out home audits.
Area project manager Ifor Glyn said the pilot had been a big success.
"Our job is to reduce the harm that drugs and alcohol causes to people and the risks they put themselves at," he said.
"People with drug and alcohol problems are a highly vulnerable group as far as fires in the home are concerned."
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