Baldati-LFPC

LFPC

In 1998, a group of university friends witnessed a very big ship burning with its full capacity of fuel close to the seaport of Beirut. After knowing that the big losses leading to this tragedy were due to unawareness and malpractice and thus, could have easily been prevented, friends and parents of some victims joined efforts and decided to establish a national non-profit organization (NGO) to make the Lebanese people aware of the dangers of fires on public safety and of the necessity to observe practices known to prevent such hazards and related tragic consequences. As such, they founded the Lebanese Fire Prevention Committee (LFPC) in 1998 with the aims to counter the wide spread problem of fire accidents and related injuries and losses in Lebanon (domestic fires, forest fires, industrial fires, and fires in buildings), to spread fire prevention awareness, to advocate protection of environmental resources, and to boost networking among various parties concerned with public safety and fire protection i.e. secure effectiveness of solutions to problems arising from fires.

Since 1999, the LFPC has been involved in the protection of human lives and the environment through organizing and participating in activities related to different fire safety in several countries. These endeavors include:

Fire safety interventions for more than 50,000 students spread over the different regions of Lebanon to promote fire safety and injury prevention.

Organizing a bi-annual nationwide student competition for fire related drawings, songs and poems to which the organization received thousands of submissions. The outstanding ones were exhibited during LFPC’s National Fire Prevention Conferences.

Disseminating specialized educational programs for school-aged children (since 2000).

Giving lectures for the military service and university students on fire hazards, ways to avoid them and essential measures to take in case of injury (since 2000).

Since fire safety has never been addressed before in Lebanon, LFPC’s ongoing campaigns have shown increased public awareness about fire safety issues. In addition, LFPC has received a lot of feedback from parents who have changed their unsafe habits. To this day the LFPC remains one of the very few organizations to advocate and lobby for fire safety in the whole of the Middle East region. After eight years of activism now, LFPC has around 100 members from different backgrounds. Among them are survivors of fire incidents, family members of fire victims, physicians, engineers, public health professionals, lawyers, dentists, safety professionals, university and school students, interested public and others.

Our Main Activity

Through its continuous efforts since 1998, namely awareness raising campaigns and lobbying, LFPC was able to secure in a relatively short time, public attention, support and cooperation, as well as official interest and commitment to enhance protection from fire hazards.

The LFPC played a major role in drafting and securing the ratification of a new decree that ensures fire safety in buildings according to international standards, which was enacted in March 2005. Following the enactment of the decree, the LFPC dedicated a major number of its activities to make the Lebanese citizens aware of the crucial role of this decree in preventing losses in building and factories in the whole nation, namely it organized press conferences and taking part in media talk shows/interviews. It also carried out more than 100 presentations attended by students of different age groups.

In 2006 the LFPC embarked on several activities that support its awareness raising, lobbying and networking schemes. It is engaged in the National Campaign for the Prevention of Forest Fires. Throughout the year members of the LFPC met with different municipalities to prepare training workshops to different people who are directly concerned with fire prevention. LFPC is focusing on farmers in Lebanon who burn their land to clean it and prepare it for the next season failing most of the time to prevent the fire from getting out of control. At the same time, the organization has succeeded in securing the collaboration of the media when it came to raising awareness regarding dangers of forest fires. Nowadays there is almost a daily coverage of fire incidents with extensive reports on the situation of forests in Lebanon the problems faced, the threats, and the possible solutions. In the same context, LFPC has conducted around five media interviews weekly between television and radio concentrating on the prevention of forest fires.

During the summer of the current year (2006) LFPC targeted children in summer and scouts camps. Its representatives carried out interactive presentations and demonstrations on the prevention of forest fires. At the same time, it launched a TV spot about fire prevention during and after outdoor activities.

Last but not least, LFPC has dedicated a major part of its efforts during 2005 and 2006 to lobbying for the amendment and strict enforcement of the laws related to the import and the trade of fireworks in Lebanon, namely forbidding selling fireworks to children under 18 years when they are not accompanied by an adult.