Fire: cigarettes are the cause of fires in many cases Pic: © STV
Strathclyde Fire and Rescue have teamed up with the NHS to encourage people to stop smoking in an initiative jointly aimed at cutting fires and improving people's health.
From Friday, Strathclyde Fire and Rescue officers who visit homes to offer fire safety advice will also hand a NHS smoking-cessation pack to householders where it is deemed relevant. The fire service has launched the scheme in partnership with NHS Health Scotland.
Lewis Ramsay, Strathclyde Fire and Rescue’s Assistant Chief Officer of Community Safety, said: "Fire does discriminate and a number of lifestyle choices including smoking feature regularly as contributory factors in serious house fires, many of which involve fatal or non-fatal casualties.
"Health and fire issues are inextricably linked and I am very pleased indeed to work closely with NHS Health Scotland in this innovative campaign. I am confident that our approach will be effective and look forward to monitoring progress over coming months."
The fire service delivers around 10,000 free Home Fire Safety Visits (HFSVs) across the Strathclyde region each year. Under the new scheme fire officers themselves will not offer health advice, but will be able to direct smokers to Smokeline, NHS Health Scotland's freephone smoking cessation advice line.
All fire stations will be issued with supplies of the Smokeline promotional card, a passive smoking leaflet, and smoking cessation posters for use in Home Fire Safety Visits and community safety talks.
Andrew Harris, Health Improvement Programme Manager for tobacco at NHS Health Scotland, also welcomed the partnership. He said: "Smoking currently causes more than 13,000 deaths each year in Scotland. Second hand smoke in the home is also a major health risk, especially for young children.
"So when you consider that cigarettes also cause so many house fires, it makes a lot of sense for health services and fire services to work together to encourage people to stop smoking.
"NHS Health Scotland is delighted to be working with Strathclyde Fire and Rescue to encourage thousands of households to go smoke free."
