NEWBERRY – The Newberry Fire Department is one of 80 South Carolina Fire Departments to recently receive the Fire Safe South Carolina community designation. Fire Safe South Carolina (FSSC) and its partners congratulate 80 local fire departments in 33 counties across the state who have actively worked to develop community risk reduction (CRR) plans for their jurisdictions in 2020.

This is the second year that the city’s fire department has received this designation. Fire Chief Keith Minick said while they continued to train for response, it was their goal to mitigate incidents through community risk reduction programs.

“Everyone plays a part in keeping our community safe,” he said.

These designated communities continually work to reduce fire-related injuries in our state, thereby decreasing the risks for residents and firefighters. They also promote consistent fire safety messaging and stress the importance of providing all relative data collected at fire scenes.

“The enthusiasm for obtaining this designation continues to grow, and we remain encouraged by active participation,” Community Risk Reduction Chief Josh Fulbright said. “We congratulate the 80 designees and, even with the pandemic, are excited to see a 40% increase from last year. We look forward to recognizing them during the June Fire-Rescue Conference in Columbia – along with those from 2019 who could not be fully recognized last year.”

Despite challenges associated with the pandemic, it is clear these fire departments continue to provide fire and life safety information to their local citizens.

Specifically, FSSC-designated communities took creative as well as virtual approaches to community risk reduction and documented outreach educational opportunities for nearly 55,000 citizens. Additionally, more than 1,300 fire service members were trained through the Community Risk Reduction curriculum, and more than 80 fire departments were represented during the annual Life Safety Education Conference.

Fulbright acknowledges the program is effective because of its dedicated community partners.

“With fire departments receiving more than 9,000 smoke alarms donated from their growing list of community partners, these relationships are an important part of this life-saving program.”

Launched in 2017, Fire Safe SC’s partners include the S.C. State Firefighters’ Association, the S.C. State Association of Fire Chiefs, and the S.C. Fire Marshal Association.

“I appreciate our staff at the City of Newberry going the extra mile with fire prevention, tours of the station, community events, installing smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, and the list continues to grow,” Minick said. “The partnership with our community who continue to spread the messages of community risk reduction is greatly appreciated.”

Also in Newberry County, the Prosperity Volunteer Fire Department has also been designated a Fire Safe department.