Thursday 27 April 2006 - 14.00hrs
It’s estimated that 15% of the population has some degree of
deafness, that’s about 150,000 people in the Avon area. Avon Fire
& Rescue Service is working with a number of organisations to
improve the safety of deaf and hard of hearing people. As part of
Deaf Awareness Week (1 – 7 May 2006) the service is announcing a
range of initiatives that it has been running which include:
- Fitting specialist smoke alarms designed for deaf and hard of
hearing people
- Commissioning a video with signing actors to explain fire
safety issues
- Initiating a SMS (text message) service to enable deaf and hard
of hearing people to contact Avon Fire & Rescue Service for
fire safety advice and Home Fire Safety Visits
- Training firefighters in deaf awareness with some going on to
learn sign language
- Raising awareness of the RNID typetalk number for calling the
emergency services
Chief Fire Officer/ Chief Executive Kevin Pearson said: "Our job
is to protect every member of our community. We have been working
with other agencies to target our services at deaf and hard of
hearing people. We think these initiatives, which cost £30,000 last
year, will go a long way to improving the safety of deaf people in
our area "
Sub Officer Roger Farrant has organised the smoke alarm
fittings. He said: "Recently we fitted smoke alarms for a couple
who had experienced arson attacks on their property. She is
profoundly deaf and he is hard of hearing so a normal smoke alarm
would be no good for them. The smoke alarms we fit have a
transmitter that connects to a vibrating pad, which is placed under
a pillow at night and will wake the person in the event of a fire.
They are now feeling much more secure."
The video is being made by Visionsign, a local organisation
which specialises in media for the deaf and hard of hearing, and
will be filmed using signing actors. The video will show a Home
Fire Safety Visit and will highlight fire safety issues. Mac
Dunlop, who works for Visionsign, is producing the video. He said:
"We’re delighted to be working with the fire service on this video.
It will go a long way to helping deaf and hard of hearing people
feel safer in their homes and also help build links between the
deaf community and the fire service."
The SMS number 077 814 82627 will allow people to contact us and
ask for fire safety advice or book a Home Fire Safety Visit.
The typetalk number allows deaf and hard of hearing people to
contact the emergency services.