Ohio’s Life-Saving Programs Shine During CRR Week
ZANESVILLE, OH – As part of Community Risk Reduction Week, the Ohio Department of Commerce Division of State Fire Marshal is showcasing how its Fire Prevention Bureau is working to protect Ohioans through education and prevention.
The bureau uses fire data to identify risks and develop solutions, like the Thermal Fuse Program. Thermal fuses, installed on oxygen therapy tubing, cut off oxygen flow when fire is detected. This prevents fires caused by smoking while on oxygen.
“Should somebody smoke on oxygen or let’s say somebody has a gas range and their cooking, their tubing gets too close to the gas range, the gas catches their tubing on fire, and then that’s a fatal issue. That fire is going to travel down that tubing. It’s going to light everything on fire including clothing. This device for $4 to $6, will stop the flow of oxygen and put out the fire where it is,” Fire Prevention Bureau Chief Anita Metheny said.
Smoking while on oxygen is a leading cause of fire deaths in Ohio. To date, over 60 fire departments across Ohio have enrolled in the program, providing the devices to residents free of charge.
“We found that in the last two and a half years, we’ve lost 51 people in the state of Ohio from smoking incidents. The greatest majority of those smoking incidents is smoking on oxygen. It’s a deadly, deadly act. We don’t want people to smoke on oxygen. Not only are they suffering burns to their airway once they are smoking and light up with that oxygen on, but the additional problem is now that fire is traveling down the tubing, and it’s lighting the entire house around them,” Metheny said.
For more information on the device or programs, visit the Ohio Fire Marshal’s website.
