Georgetown County has once again been named a Fire Safe Community, thanks to the efforts of both Georgetown County Fire-EMS and Midway Fire-Rescue. The departments were recognized today by Fire Safe South Carolina for efforts in 2022 to develop community risk reduction plans for their jurisdictions.
Just 132 departments across the state received the Fire Safe designation. The communities designated under this program continuously 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,” said Josh Fulbright, the program’s Community Risk Reduction Chief. “We congratulate the 132 designees and are excited again to see a net gain of more than 25 percent in those participating from last year. We look forward to recognizing them with a formal award ceremony during the June Fire-Rescue Conference in Myrtle Beach.”
To earn the “Fire Safe South Carolina” designation, fire departments completed courses to improve data quality, trained community partners to deliver in-home safety visits, and further developed their skills through online National Fire Academy courses in risk reduction and assessment.
Across the state in 2022, 536 community partners were identified, more than 2,500 fire service members were educated on risk reduction-related topics, and almost 1 million residents were educated on fire and life safety topics by their local fire departments.
Georgetown County congratulates the men and women of Georgetown County Fire-EMS and Midway Fire-Rescue on this achievement and thank them for their efforts to keep our community safe. “This would not be possible without their tireless efforts,” said Brandon Ellis, Georgetown County Emergency Services Director.