I rise this afternoon to inform members that earlier today I signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the Working Committee on Fire Services with the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Fire Chiefs and Firefighters. I would like to acknowledge members of the association who are in the gallery today, including the president Rod Clarke, Hubert Sparkes, the Executive Director, and Richard Murphy, Fire Chief of Conception Bay South and Director of Zone 1 of the Association. I would also like to acknowledge our provincial Fire Commissioner, Fred Hollett. This MOU is aimed at improving the effectiveness of fire prevention, fire and rescue services and other related services throughout our province.

Together with these partners, I was also happy to launch a new "Learn Not To Burn" program today. This is a very valuable initiative under the MOU aimed at fire safety awareness. I have also committed $50,000 to allow the hiring of a provincial coordinator for the program. The association will now look to the private sector for a partner to share in the cost of this initiative and I am told there are already a number of potential partners which have expressed an interest.

I am very pleased that this proven program will be brought to children in their classrooms throughout Newfoundland and Labrador. The "Learn Not To Burn" program was developed by the National Fire Protection Association, and has been designed to encourage at-home and community participation to strengthen the knowledge obtained in the classroom. It is aimed primarily at elementary school students but offers information about fire safety for people of all ages. Many schools throughout the province already have the necessary materials and others will receive them through the implementation of this program.

The "Learn Not To Burn" program follows other initiatives designed to raise fire safety awareness. Earlier this year, a series of informational pamphlets was distributed through fire departments all over the province. They demonstrated many different ways to be fire safety conscious and were directed at people of all ages. Several years ago, another successful awareness program called "Now You�re Cookin" addressed the problem of fat fires. I know that fire fighters are strong advocates of the "Learn Not to Burn" program because it is created for children, who make up a large percentage of the fire deaths and injuries� statistics in Canada. In this province, child deaths due to fires have decreased from seven in 1992 to a total of seven from 1993 to 1999. While fire safety awareness is working, our obvious goal is to eliminate all child deaths due to fire by raising fire safety awareness.

I commend the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Fire Chiefs and Firefighters and the Fire Commissioner�s Office for their continued efforts to bringing public attention to this very important initiative. I thank my colleague, the Minister of Education, for allowing this program to be offered to children in their schools. I also encourage parents and teachers to support the program at home and in the classroom. We can all benefit from the "Learn Not To Burn" program. By working together, we can protect property, and the most precious of gifts, life.

2000 12 11 3:30 p.m.