WESTMORELAND — With property damage due to fires amounting to some $40 million since the start of the year, acting divisional head of the Westmoreland fire department, Dave McLaughlin, has urged householders to take greater care in preventing fires.

There have been 144 reported cases of fire in the parish since January, he said, which have left 26 houses destroyed and 66 people homeless.

“I am very concerned about the number of house fires that have been reported over the past two months in Westmoreland,” McLaughlin told JIS News. “(And I) appeal to residents to be more careful how they execute their duties at home and try to prevent these fires by taking all necessary precautionary measures. During these times, persons are displaced, belongings are lost and even lives are sometimes lost.”

However, he expressed satisfaction with the on-going education programmes undertaken by the fire department across the parish.

“The message has been going out to people in all corners of the parish,” McLaughlin said.

According to Corporal Roy Whyte of the parish’s fire prevention unit, there is an active education programme in all schools, community clubs, churches and business entities. In addition, he said, the fire station carries out regular fire drills in various parts of the parish and that the public is always welcome to visit the station for information on how to prevent fires.

But like McLaughlin, Whyte stressed the need for residents to become more fire-conscious.

“I would further like to encourage all citizens to become more fire conscious and to relate this to their children,” he said, “because in most cases, fires occur by accident and some persons do not take time to teach their children safety measures and the dangers that fires pose.”