Huntsville Fire Department discusses National Fire Prevention Week

This week is national fire prevention week and the huntsville fire department is focusing on educating citizens about cooking fires - the leading cause of home fires in the united states.

Waay 31's bridget divers spoke to deputy fire marshal - mike jaco - about what precautions can be taken to keep you and your family safe.

Jaco/ deputy fire marshall "as in many years in the past cooking fires are by far are our largest accidental cause of fires inside the home."

Deputy fire marshall for the city of huntsville mike jaco says most cooking fires can be prevented.

Mike jaco/ deputy fire marshall "nine times out of ten it's usually something on user error on the person.

You know whoever is using an appliance or you know if its cooking most often times they walked away from whatever they were cooking."

But in recent months there have been fewer accidental fires than in previous years.

Mike jaco/ deputy fire marshall "we did have a slow down during the times that the country was shut down during the coronavirus lockdown.

And we attributed that to you know people slowing down."

The city of huntsville in 2019 had 14 accidental fires during april but there were only 3 accidental fires in april in 2020.

Deputy jaco attributes the decline to people spending more time at home.

Mike jaco/ deputy fire marshall "we expected a little spike during that time but we were pleased to see that the numbers had really dropped."

In huntsville bridget divers waay 31