Arriva aids fire safety campaign

Arriva duty manager Mark Hughes and firefighter Alan Walker with the don't drink and cook poster.

Arriva is helping Shropshire firefighters get over important fire safety messages this festive season.
The bus company has put up one of the brigade's warning posters - showing a child's teddy bears blackened by fire - free of charge on its Oswestry area bus.

The public message is for people not to drink large amounts of alcohol and cook - in a bid to prevent house fires during the festive season.

Rabinder Dhami, team leader of the community fire safety department at Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service said alcohol and cooking was a dangerous mixture which sometimes led to householders falling asleep while leaving chip pans or the oven hob on.

"This is a cause of many household fires in Shropshire," he warned.

House fires in the county are at their lowest level due to a concerted campaign by the fire service to raise people's awareness about fire safety and the importance of having working smoke alarms in their homes to ensure they have early warning in the event of a fire.

18th December, 2009