Many plans work with hundreds of million dollars, but sometimes it is the little things that make a big difference. A fire department in England recently visited a boys’ home in central Zimbabwe to install smoke alarms and teach the staff and children about fire safety. Thankfully, many thoughtful people are partaking in similar projects and providing smoke alarms to buildings in the developing world.

Unfortunately the fire department installed the smoke detectors at the boys’ home after a large fire destroyed part of the school and killed one young boy. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention states that one person dies in a fire about every 170 minutes, and that is only in the United States. People living in many parts of the developing world have a higher chance of being caught in a serious fire without help for a number of reasons including lack of an efficient response system, the rare availability of smoke detectors and lower construction standards.

To learn more about how people are working to prevent deaths from building fires around the world check out the FM Global Fire Prevention Program, a grant that helps provide smoke detectors to local governments, fire stations, and emergency response teams around the world.

– Kevin Sullivan

Source: Norwich News, CDC