Cleveland Fire Brigade is urging smokers to set themselves a challenge to quit on this year's No Smoking Day which takes place on Wednesday 14th March 2012.

Firefighters will be out in force on the day speaking to shoppers at Asda in Hartlepool and on Stockton High Street as well as to school children at Newcomen Primary School in Redcar and Beechwood Primary School in Middlesbrough. The Brigade will be taking its Multi-Use Games Arena (MUGA) to the schools where pupils will be able to take part in various sporting activities whilst learning about the dangers of smoking. It is hoped this will deter them from starting the habit when older and prompt them to discourage their parents.

Phil Lancaster, Director of Community Protection said: "Households with a smoker are almost one and a half times more likely to suffer a fire than non-smoking households. Apart from this increase in risk of fire, smoking has been linked to causing blindness, lung cancer, heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to name a few. This is why I would urge anyone who smokes to quit."

Nationally, a third of all fire deaths in the home are caused by smoking materials. From April 1st 2011 to February 29th 2012, 28% of all accidental fires in Teesside were caused by smoking materials. These could have been avoided if more care had been taken or more importantly if people were not smoking in the first place.

 

Posted March 12th, 2012 at 1430 by Andrew. Comment by emailing: andrew.lynch@pavpub.com