Escambia's "Keep the Wreath Green" Fire Awareness Campaign Featured on Fox Weather's National Broadcast!

And the CMR's very own Davis Wood gave a great interview and description of the campaign to prevent house fires over the Holiday Season!

Way to go Escambia CMR, Pensacola Police Dept. Pensacola Fire Department, and ECFR!

Watch the segment here.

Safety Concerns Boil to the Surface in Wake of Fire: Help us Please!

Residents of Tampico Blvd in District 1 are concerned the campfires in an unlawful squatters camp behind their subdivision nearly cost them their houses--potentially their lives...

Residents of Tampico Blvd. are frustrated.

A large fire erupted in a wooded lot behind their homes last week.  Before it was contained, residents with whom I have spoken were literally using their garden hoses to keep their fences and backyards wet.  They were concerned that this fire could have overtaken them.

And it could have.  It was stopped literally feet from these citizens' back fences.  They know that were it not for division of forestry personnel and ECFR response--they very well could have lost their homes.

While the fire's genesis has not been officially determined--some residents believe it was a campfire that somehow became uncontrolled.  

"Camp Fire?"

Yes, come to find out there is an "established" homeless camp in the woods of this neighborhood.  Multiple folks living there, defecating there, urinating there, and stacking garbage there.

And burning fires there.  from a constituent:

"I nearly lost my home this afternoon.  There was a woods fire that started behind our homes and ran the length of our homes to Hwy 98. There are homeless people that live in the  woods.  We believe their camp fire started the fire.  We have recently called ESCO because of them fighting in the woods, no one came.  We have spoken to the realtor who represents the owner, to no avail. The owner lives in Dallas, Texas. I called code enforcement because of the trash they have strewn all over behind our house.  They came out and posted the violation.  We nearly lost our homes.  These people have no right  to be there. Please, please do something about this. "

 followed by this one:

"It is late but I can not sleep for worrying about what could be going on  the other side of my fence.  We do have an active complaint with code enforcement regarding the garbage and trash but I doubt if the inspector walked all the way into the woods to see just how bad it is. He would not have felt safe. I saw a video done by my neighbor, Mike Cottrell yesterday.  The extent of this mess is horrendous.  There are huge piles of trash that go on forever that will require bull dozers to deal with for removal. There is human excrement, used needles, crack pipes. They have built tree stands to keep watch.   The fire hazard will get greater as we get into the summer months.  There are children that live in this neighborhood. Summer vacation is coming.  Inspite of parents telling them not to go back there some may be drawn to the forbidden. I am asking that Mr. Bergosh ask a code inspector to go ( with a deputy for protection) all the way thru this site to see how horrendous it really is. Not doing something about this is totally unacceptable. Help us, please."  

In speaking with some folks familiar with this issue--it is a known reality that these squattter encampments are quite common in wooded lots throughout Escambia County.  If they are truly ubiquitous as I am told--how can we insure they are safe and don't start forest fires?

Look--as I said on Ch. 3 yesterday on this topic--we all feel for the folks that are homeless, and we know it is a challenging issue to tackle.  There are some that have addiction challenges, some have untreated mental health conditions, some are truly down on their luck, while others remain homeless "by choice."  I feel for these folks in this condition and I will continue to work to assist however I am able and whenever I am able.

But whether you are homeless or not---if you engage in conduct that puts citizens' lives and property in jeopardy---that conduct must cease.  Your rights as a homeless individual do not allow you to harm other citizens just so you can behave any way you want to.

So I will be speaking with staff about the best way forward on this topic.  I believe it will certainly require coordination/cooperation among multiple entities including the sheriff's office, code enforcement, and social services organizations along with faith-based support groups.

This will be discussed at an upcoming BOCC meeting, as well.

How Governments Can Work Together Effectively

The Escambia BCC and School District may be teaming up to enhance fire safety awarenss--this is a great example of how local governments can work together for the common good... 

Yesterday at the Escambia BCC workshop we discussed many issues of importance.  One of the biggest early discussions was about fire safety.  After two tragic losses of life to fires over the last several weeks--we all bounced ideas back and forth about how to better get the message out about the importance of fire safety and utilization of inexpensive smoke detectors.

An inexpensive smoke detector and an inexpensive battery can save lives.  If there is not a smoke detector in a home, or if there is one and it is not maintained properly with occasional checks and twice-yearly battery changes---this condition can lead to tragedy not unlike a traffic fatality that could have been prevented had a car's occupant only worn their seat-belt...

This awareness of the value of fire prevention is an area where local entities can work together better to achieve a desired outcome.  I think the BCC and the Escambia County School Board should work together on this.

The BCC's morning discussion revolved around previous efforts by the county to provide free smoke alarms via door to door campaigns in neighborhoods stricken with poverty and blight.  This noble effort has been worthwhile yet the effectiveness of this approach was questioned.

I suggested that we work together with the school board to help get the message out to an even wider audience--and to identify more families that could utilize assistance with installation of smoke detectors in their homes/apartments.

We have open houses coming up in the next three weeks in our local schools, and if we can come to an agreement with the school district we would like to bring a uniformed fire fighter to each open house to describe available programs for smoke detector/carbon monoxide detector installations.  I think this could be an extremely effective way to reach some families that need this assistance--as these open houses are well attended by families.

I also suggested that we request to be allowed to give occasional messages over the school district's call-out phone system, particularly around spring and fall, to remind folks to change out the batteries in their existing smoke detectors twice yearly.  A good time to remember to do this is during the time changes in the spring and fall.

If we can work together with the school district on this outreach effort--we could potentially save lives.  Let's do this.  Let's prevent the next tragic yet preventable loss of life locally by working together to leverage our efforts.

Administrator Jack Brown has already reached out to the school district to see if we can partner with them in this endeavor to keep kids and families safe--and we await their (hopefully receptive) response.