Crime & Safety

Officials Urge Care after Recent Fatal Crashes

During Safety and Health Week, the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services will focus on the roads.

 

The Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services (HCDFRS) is reminding drivers to keep safe when on the roads, a timely reminder as there have been at least four fatal vehicle collisions in the county in less than a month.

HCDFRS is working with the International Association of Fire Chiefs and the National Volunteer Fire Council to help make safety come first–for residents of the community as well as in the department–during International Fire/EMS Safety and Health Week, June 17-23.

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“My first priority is to keep every man and woman in this department safe, but I need the community’s help in order to do that,” Fire/EMS Chief William Goddard said in a statement.

“We’ve taken tremendous strides as a department, earning the prestigious for our safety programs, signing the national Safety Belt pledge and beginning each shift with safety messages, but without the community behind us, we cannot protect our personnel.”

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The theme for Safety and Health Week this year is “Rules You Can Live By,” aimed at keeping firefighters and paramedics safe both when they’re behind the wheel and when responding to the scene of an accident on a busy roadway.

During June, every firefighter and paramedic in the department will attend safety courses designed to help responders keep safe when at the scene of collisions.

“If you can take a moment to slow down when you see emergency personnel responding on the scene of an accident, that would go a long way in helping us stay focused on the task at hand,” Goddard said in a statement.

In the past month, there have been at least four fatal vehicle collisions in Howard County, all on well-traveled roads: 

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