CANTON – The Canton Volunteer Fire Department has been presented with a Life Safety Achievement Award for 2002 by the Residential Fire Safety Institute. The award was announced by Roy L. Marshall, director of the institute.

The Life Safety Achievement Award has recognized local fire prevention activities that contributed to reducing the number of lives lost in residential fires for the past 10 years.

The Canton Volunteer Fire Department qualified for this award in 2002 because it recorded zero fire deaths in structures during that year. Although residential fires in the U.S. account for only 20 percent of all fires, they result in 80 percent of all fire deaths. The institute is committed to reducing that number. A total of 1,098 fire departments in the United States, Puerto Rico, Italy and Iceland received the 2002 Life Safety Achievement Award.

“Experience tells us that fire prevention activity and public education can significantly reduce life and property loss from residential fires,” Marshall said. “Prevention and education are very cost effective compared to the traditional approach of relying on fire suppression. The Life Safety Achievement Award recognizes fire departments for their fire prevention efforts and encourages them to continually improve those efforts.”