Attention to detail important in fire prevention Published Sept. 16, 2010 By Airman 1st Class Cynthia A. Haughton Nellis Public Affairs NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. -- Recently, the Nellis Fire Department has responded to an unusually high number of fires caused by the careless discarding of smoking materials. Though the fire department is in place to mitigate all emergencies, these easily preventable smoking-related fires have been wasting valuable time and assets. "Everyone over here at the fire department loves to do our jobs, but the fact that we have been responding to repeated fire emergencies caused by the improper disposal of smoking materials shows that fire prevention procedures put in place for the Air Force aren't being followed," said Staff Sgt. Scott Edgmond, NCO in charge of Fire Education. "The Fire Prevention office is trying to educate personnel about the dangers of fire and express the need to get back into the habit of taking those few extra seconds to make sure the job is done right." In order to resolve the issue of these fires, the cause must first be addressed. According to the Fire Prevention office, each one of the incidents was started because smoking material was thrown into the dumpster without being wetted down before disposal. "The contents in the disposal unit will almost always appear to be extinguished, and it might seem that you can just throw them in a dumpster, but this is exactly what you don't want to do," Sergeant Edgmond said. He said the smoking material at the bottom of the "butt can" will frequently be hot, but will not ignite without the right elements present for a fire to start. "Once the material is thrown into the dumpster, all the elements are present for a working fire, which has been happening too often in the past few weeks," Sergeant Edgmond explained. In order to prevent these careless mishaps, it is imperative for personnel to take a few moments to properly wet the material before disposing the "butts". According to Nellis regulations, it is the supervisor's responsibility to inspect all approved smoking areas at the close of each break period and at the end of each work shift to ensure that all smoking material has been disposed of in a proper manner. Supervisors must also ensure that the contents of these receptacles are wet down prior to disposal. "Our expectation is for personnel to put this knowledge into practice to prevent these fires from happening," Sergeant Edgmond said. "The time you take now to dispose of smoking materials the right way could save thousands of dollars and valuable Air Force assets in the end."
