By Patrick Wilson
The Virginian-Pilot
PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Portsmouth firefighters want 2010 to be a year with zero fatalities and have even made it a goal.
Fire Chief Don Horton, who took the job in March 2009, said he thinks it can be done if city workers continue to preach prevention and education.
“It’s going to take education, it’s going to take enlightenment and it’s going to take enforcement,” he said.
Horton was previously a firefighter, fire marshal and deputy fire chief in Richmond before retiring there in 2007.
In 2005, Richmond had no fire fatalities for the first time in years.
In 2009, two people died in fires in Portsmouth and three died after breathing carbon monoxide from a generator running in a house. That same year throughout Virginia, 68 people were killed and 382 were injured in fires, according to the Virginia Department of Fire Programs.
The department has data and fire safety information at www.vafire.com
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