FIREHOUSE ROUNDTABLE

Fire Safety Education & Fire Prevention

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FIREHOUSE ROUNDTABLE #1
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Firehouse® Magazine invited a cross-section of fire officers to participate in a roundtable discussion about public education and fire prevention programs. The topics that are discussed include training firefighters for public outreach programs, local fire problems and how departments are meeting the needs of at-risk communities. Our thanks to the chiefs who joined this discussion and we invite career and volunteer fire department representatives from across the country to participate in future roundtables.
JAMES M. COLWELL
ASSISTANT FIRE
CHIEF BEAUFORT, SC, FIRE DEPARTMENT
JAMES M. COLWELL is the assistant fire chief for the City of Beaufort Fire Department. His 30-year fire service career began in 1973 as a volunteer firefighter with the Hillcrest Fire Company in Binghamton, NY. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps as an aircraft launch and recovery technician, he joined the Beaufort Fire Department as a recruit firefighter and rose through the ranks. Colwell earned an associate's degree in fire science and has served as a company officer, maintenance officer and training officer. He also is an adjunct instructor with the South Carolina Fire Academy.
FIREHOUSE: The fire service preaches prevention first, and firefighters are in constant contact with the public daily. What is your department doing to prepare new recruits, and continued training for your firefighters, to conduct public education?
COLWELL: In addition to what is taught in recruit school, the Beaufort Fire Department includes the line personnel whenever possible in daily public education outreach. This can be through assisting the fire marshal (Lieutenant Daniel Byrne, a Firehouse® Magazine and Firehouse.com fire prevention columnist) with delivering programs or through our Friday School Lunch program, where engine companies go out to the local schools to sit with elementary school children and eat lunch with them and listen. So often, these young people are looking for a role model and an adult who will listen to them and give them a sense of direction in their young lives. Sometimes, our members feel like they have taken confession.
The fire marshal uses this time to observe those firefighters who exhibit a gift or calling for public education and we then take these firefighters and make specialized training available to them. The fact is, some firefighters are more cut out for public speaking and working with children or seniors than others. Those that have a special interest will request permission to help out and obtain additional training fire safety and public education programs. It makes more sense to nurture someone with an interest than to force those that have an interest to do some other specialty. "The cream will rise to the top," so to speak.
FIREHOUSE: What is the biggest fire problem in your community, and what have you done for public education to target that problem?
COLWELL: Cooking fires top the list. People start heating oil or grease for frying and then get distracted and the next thing they know their kitchen is on fire. Most of these home fires are small with limited damage; some, however, are not. When we talk to groups, whether in the station, at their meeting place or on the road with the Fire Safety House, we stress, among all the other safety considerations, kitchen and cooking safety. Children are taught to use the stove only under adult supervision, they are taught to remind Mom and Dad to turn the pot handles to the center of the stove and not to leave pots on the stove unattended. When talking with adults or seniors, we of course ramp up the content of the demonstration to be age specific.
Our fire marshal has also partnered with the local community college and their culinary arts department in a one-day training session in extinguishing systems and portable fire extinguishers for the fledgling chefs. They are taught how to choose and use a portable extinguisher and have the opportunity to extinguish a live fire through the use of our fire extinguisher prop. They are also made familiar with hood systems and other commercial kitchen extinguishing systems.
Finally, we have hosted fire extinguisher training and fire extinguisher give-aways at various community activities and festivals and this has been well received. We have some success stories from it.
FIREHOUSE: The elderly and young children are most at risk for fire deaths. How does your department target those audiences?
COLWELL: We take our Fire Safety House on the road to senior citizens centers as well as to the schools and child day-care centers. I can tell you from personal observation, the seniors citizens like the Fire Safety House as much or more than the youngsters.
Our fire marshal has developed a couple of new and innovative programs for children beyond the traditional format. That is a weekly reading program, where he goes to the local elementary schools and reads to the youngsters, always interjecting a safety lesson into the story. The second program is the "First Impressions," where kindergarten-age children are slowly introduced to firefighters with the last session having a member dress in full protective ensemble. This program takes the fear factor out of the children and has proven to be very successful.
Once you develop and fine tune your program and put it out on the street, before long the word gets around and your fire marshal's telephone will be ringing off the hook. Schools, child day-care centers, medical caregivers, seniors groups, etc., will be calling requesting a visit. You can expect calls from outside your jurisdiction so be prepared to network and share your props with your neighboring departments.
With regard to the senior citizen safety outreach, we also perform monthly blood-pressure checks at the local senior center and talk one on one with them about smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, extension cords, etc. We have found this more effective than a full presentation because you are one on one, talking to them as a concerned neighbor. Plus, those who may have hearing difficulty can hear what you say and they may also ask questions they may be embarrassed to ask in a group setting.
Another great way to spread the word is to integrate the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) Risk Watch program into the schools. This can be a challenge, however, as teachers are already under pressure to meet district mandates and curriculum goals. We were able to get into the local schools in our area of responsibility by integrating into the Physical Education, Health and Safety curriculum and having the physical education teachers deliver the material. This was successful for a couple of years, but other mandates have pushed it to the wayside.
Another issue too, and I may take some heat for, is that Risk Watch may buck any agendas and programs that the various state fire marshals' offices may have. This would be unfortunate as the NFPA really has a great "All Risk" safety program that the local fire departments and state fire marshals' offices can and should support. I'm saying it doesn't have to be a full substitute for state and local programs, but it lends itself as a great adjunct to those programs.
The bottom line is, the fire service is now perceived as the focal point for safety in many communities. I think Katrina proved that. We have a duty to not only focus on fire safety, but all hazards, whether it's bicycle safety or water safety, or whatever; the public will look to us for answers. No matter what the subject is or the group you are addressing, your fire safety and public education program must always be age specific, must also be vocation specific, the person or team delivering the outreach must be interested in doing this kind of work. A calling of sorts.
These principles are paramount for any successful public education outreach. You have to know yourself, your people and your audience.
PATTY FROSCH
COMMUNITY AFFAIRS DIVISION CHIEF
MIAMI-DADE FIRE RESCUE DEPARTMENT
CHIEF PATTY FROSCH has served Miami-Dade, FL, Fire Rescue for more than 23 years. She began as a paramedic firefighter on busy inner-city rescue units before being promoted through the ranks of firefighter, lieutenant and captain to her current position as the Employee and Community Affairs Division chief. This division delivers fire and life safety educational programs to the public, coordinates community outreach services and provides humanitarian, non-emergency services to MDFR employees.
FIREHOUSE: The fire service preaches prevention first, and firefighters are in constant contact with the public daily. What is your department doing to prepare new recruits, and continued training for your firefighters, to conduct public education?
FROSCH: We are in the process of updating and expanding our public education program and one of the main focus areas is the delivery of key safety messages by our front-line firefighters. In response to the tremendous population growth in Miami-Dade County, our fire-rescue department has grown as well. With so many personnel spread out across a large and culturally diverse community, we want to make sure that important safety information is not missed and that the messages remain consistent. To that end, we are creating a Key Message Guide Sheet for our firefighters so they can refer to a simple outline of our safety messages whenever they are scheduled for a truck demonstration or a station tour. They will still have the freedom to present the information in their own way, but instead of having to just "wing it," they will have a short list of the risk behaviors that most impact our community, and a couple of key messages about each that are short, simple and easy for folks to remember.
The idea of a Key Message Guide Sheet as a tool for our front-line units came about with the realization that there is so much more information to remember these days. As many fire departments have evolved into "fire-rescue" departments, the services have expanded from fire protection services to include emergency medical services as well. In order to parallel the services that we are delivering, and address the risk behaviors encountered during the wide range of emergencies that we handle, our public education mission had to evolve from "fire safety" to "life safety," which includes so much more.
FIREHOUSE: What is the biggest fire problem in your community, and what have you done for public education to target that problem?
FROSCH: Many of the residential fire fatalities and serious fire injuries in our community occur because there was no working smoke alarm in the occupancy at the time of the fire. In order to reduce these incidents, we offer free smoke alarm installation to elderly and low-income families. In addition, our department spokespersons are trained to include messages about the importance of smoke alarms in statements to the media at fire scenes. If a working smoke alarm was present and occupants were able to escape harm, we emphasize that message. And conversely, if there was no smoke alarm, we explain how that might have contributed to occupant injury or death.
FIREHOUSE: The elderly and young children are most at risk for fire deaths. How does your department target those audiences?
FROSCH: We target elder adults and young children by designing programs that specifically appeal to them in those unique stages of life. While both of these groups are at a higher risk, we have learned that they offer some advantages in delivering safety messages. Since virtually all children attend school from a young age, they are already isolated and separated by age in a way that makes it easier for us to reach them with specific age-appropriate information. For example, we know that children in kindergarten love Sparky the Firedog and respond enthusiastically to his messages, but children in grades 3 through 5 are less interested in Sparky, but very receptive to information presented through their common lifestyle interests, such as dynamic cartoon characters and computer games. Middle and high school students are more resistant to obvious safety information, but clever integration into career exploration presentations can be a very effective method for "sneaking in" important messages
Elder adults are more difficult to reach in large numbers, but many of them come together in common group settings such as retirement communities, health centers, and programs offered by community or religious organizations, so we proactively seek out these venues to reach them. To identify elder residents in need who might otherwise be overlooked, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue established Elder Links, a program that offers firefighters on fire and rescue units a simple way to link abused, neglected or inadequately cared for residents to a network of services that can assist them.
For us, the key is to identify several of those stages of life, and to tailor program information to cover the biggest safety threats to each stage. Then, with careful consideration for the size and make-up of our community, we can establish an organized system for reaching our targets at least once during each of those stages. Hopefully, we will have the opportunity to reach them at every stage, where we can reinforce previous messages and offer new information in an appealing way.
THOMAS R. GALVIN
CHIEF OF BUREAU OF TRAINING
FIRE SAFETY EDUCATION/PREVENTION
FIRE DEPARTMENT OF NEW YORK
CHIEF THOMAS R. GALVIN is a 30-year veteran of the FDNY. He has been a chief officer for 18 years and is currently an assistant chief of department and is the chief of the Bureau of Training for the FDNY. Galvin assisted in the development of the FDNY Incident Management Teams and is designated as one of the teams' incident commanders.
FIREHOUSE: The fire service preaches prevention first, and firefighters are in constant contact with the public daily. What is your department doing to prepare new recruits, and continued training for your firefighters, to conduct public education?
GALVIN: The subjects of fire prevention and fire safety education are two interconnected issues but somewhat distinct from each other. In regards to fire prevention, the FDNY inspects all buildings, occupancies and hazardous operations to ensure that they are safe and in accordance with fire codes and department regulations. The FDNY utilizes both on-duty field units and civilian fire inspectors on a daily basis to conduct the inspections. Fire safety education is directed at changing the unsafe behavior of people, such as children playing with fire, careless smoking or candle use.
The FDNY has a Fire Safety Education Unit (FSEU) that is supported by fire safety educators provided by The FDNY Foundation. The FDNY Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) organization committed to promoting fire safety education and supporting the efforts of the FDNY. In the 23-week probationary firefighter school, the recruits receive 80 hours of training on building construction and fire prevention. Recruits are taught how various types of buildings are constructed and how to properly inspect them by using standard fire prevention inspection forms, specific to that type of occupancy, operation or building classification. Additionally, they receive training on the importance of promoting fire safety and are provided with information on the major topics of safety concerns in New York City. After a recruit leaves the probationary firefighter school, these topics are reinforced by company drills conducted by on-duty officers. Drills are conducted on every tour. Members of the FDNY are also scheduled to attend an "Annual Education Day," where they are updated on new construction practices and the hazards they pose to firefighters when operating in buildings, such as lightweight construction. Additionally, when new hazards are identified, the department will issue a job-wide "Pass-Along Bulletin" to spread the word and provide proper operating guidelines.
In regards to fire safety education, the FDNY will be issuing Fire Safety Presentation Kits to each firehouse to enhance their current fire safety program. The kits include educational literature on various unsafe behaviors, lesson props to aid in the presentation and a guidebook providing the main talking points on various fire safety subjects. These kits were funded by the Allstate Insurance Co.
FIREHOUSE: What is the biggest fire problem in your community, and what have you done for public education to target that problem?
GALVIN: New York City is composed of five boroughs that cover a large geographic area with a very diverse population. Upon request from any organization, group or individual, the FSEU will conduct fire safety education lectures and workshops anywhere in the city. Additionally, the unit plans and conducts outreach campaigns in target-specific areas of the city by analyzing information provided by the FDNY Bureau of Fire Investigation. The target areas are those with the highest incidents of fire and fire-related injuries and fatalities. They look for the most common fire causes and trends and target these issues within the community with fire and life safety education.
Typically, the most common problems are a lack of a smoke alarm and the failure to maintain the alarm operable. Working smoke alarms greatly reduce the likelihood of a residential fire-related fatal injury by providing occupants with early warning and giving them time to escape. While most homes have smoke alarms, approximately 25% do not work due to a missing or dead battery. Seventy percent of home fire deaths occur in homes that had no smoke alarms or the alarms did not operate.
In order to get out the critical message that a reliable smoke alarm will greatly increase the chance of surviving a fire, the FSEU and field units in collaboration with the FDNY Foundation conduct a "Change Your Clock, Change Your Battery" campaign. During the week prior to Daylight Saving Time, the FDNY conducts major battery distribution efforts in targeted communities. Smoke alarms are also distributed to those who attend a fire safety lecture and sign an affidavit agreeing to install and maintain the device. Smoke alarms are donated to the FDNY from Kidde, First Alert and the FDNY Foundation.
FIREHOUSE: The elderly and young children are most at risk for fire deaths. How does your department target those audiences?
GALVIN: The FSEU, with assistance from the educators from The FDNY Foundation, conducts fire safety education presentations in child day-care centers, pre-schools, primary schools, libraries, senior centers, health-care and faith-based facilities, as well as at major community events throughout the year.
Young children — Most fires that result in child fatalities are started by unsupervised children. Child fire play (playing with incendiary devices, such as lighters, matches and candles) is the leading cause of fire fatalities for children ages 6 to 9 years old. More than half of fire injuries for this age group are a result of smoke inhalation and more than 40% of these injuries are sustained attempting to escape.
Understanding the nature of fire injuries and fatalities for different age groups is critical when planning fire safety education programs. An age and cause approach is at the core of the FDNY's fire safety education school program. Research shows that children as young as 5 are capable of learning lifesaving means, such as smoke alarm maintenance, safe cooking practices, home fire escape and the "don't touch" approach for matches and lighters.
Before the start of the school year, the FDNY, with the support of the FDNY Foundation, conducts proactive outreach effort by notifying elementary schools of the importance and availability of fire safety education. Throughout the school year, teams of fire safety educators conduct classroom-to-classroom lectures city-wide. The classroom-to-classroom methodology, rather than a full school assembly, was designed so children could have direct interaction with the educators. In 2007, more than 200 elementary schools were visited, educating approximately 50,000 students in fire and life safety. While curiosity about fire is common, some children light fires for other reasons. A change or crisis within the household may cause the child to behave inappropriately. The FDNY Bureau of Fire Investigation has a "Juvenile Fire-setter Intervention Program." This program offers educational and referral services to those in need.
Older adults — Although the leading causes of fire deaths and injuries (smoking, cooking and faulty heating equipment) are the same for older adults as the rest of the population, there are dramatic differences in patterns of fatalities and injuries between the age groups. Many older adults have impaired mobility, live alone and live below the poverty level. To reach this special population, lectures and workshops are conducted at various types of senior, health care and faith-based facilities, as well as major community events. While the generic fire safety tips still apply when educating older adults in fire safety, recommendations must be tailored to their special needs. In order to bring our fire safety program to the older adults who are unable to attend community-based events, the FDNY coordinated with the City Meals-on-Wheels. Arrangements were made to distribute the booklet when they deliver meals.
MICHAEL LOVE
DIVISION CHIEF
DIVISION OF COMMUNITY RISK
REDUCTION SERVICES
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD,
FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE
DIVISION CHIEF MICHAEL LOVE is the fire marshal for Montgomery County, MD. He holds a bachelor of science degree from the University of Maryland, is an Executive Fire Officer (EFO) and a Certified Public Manager. Love has worked for Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service for 31 years, starting as a firefighter and working up through all ranks. He has held positions managing the County's Fire and Medical Dispatch Center, Emergency Medical Service Division and has served as Countywide Shift Operations Chief. In his current position, he also manages the department's Public Information, Recruiting, Planning and Research, Fire and Life Safety Education and the Fire and Explosive Investigation Section.
FIREHOUSE: The fire service preaches prevention first, and firefighters are in constant contact with the public daily. What is your department doing to prepare new recruits, and continued training for your firefighters, to conduct public education?
LOVE: We are just getting back into a process to provide training to new recruits. We recently implemented a requirement for all recruits to complete the NFA (National Fire Academy) on-line Self-Study Course for Community Safety Educators (Q118) during their probationary period. The goal here is to provide the new people with awareness and some preparation for delivering simple fire and injury prevention knowledge and skills. Most often, a rookie or the youngest firefighter working is assigned the responsibility to deliver a presentation in either a station tour or in-service visit in the community. It is most beneficial to provide at least some base level knowledge so that the firefighter can offer correct information.
It is my opinion that one reason firefighters may be reluctant to engage in public education is that they are unfamiliar with it. If provided some tools, such as awareness-level training and some reference materials and handouts, we feel we can make a more professional and productive impression. This early awareness with repeated opportunities to increase public education knowledge could create a passion within some firefighters to get deeply involved in fire and life safety education.
Regarding continued education, I am disappointed to say that we have let this slip in the past 10 years. In the mid-1990s, my department embarked on a very aggressive program of door-to-door interface with the public. This program, called "Safety in Our Neighborhood," was embraced by our whole organization. While it slipped in intensity toward 2000, it was all but forgotten when the attacks were made on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. One critical concern for any area in the fire service is there must be a way to sustain programs beyond the operational services. If you let a valuable program go, it is extremely hard to recreate the energy that was used to create it in the first place. I recognize that we were posed with significant challenges after the terror strikes, but none of the risks of juvenile fire setting, improper disposal of smoking materials and unsafe cooking procedures went away after we were attacked.
We did get a FIRE Act grant in 2003 that was primarily associated with fire and life safety education and programs targeting fire risk and preparedness. We used some of the funding to conduct a class for 30 firefighters that when completed met the NFPA 1035 Standard for Professional Qualifications for Public Fire and Life Safety Educator Level I. These staff are involved regularly in presentations, speaking engagements, babysitter classes and community events and many other activities. We currently have an application for a Fire Prevention and Safety Grant that will help us expand our training as well as to refocus on a door-to-door program that will require more widespread fire and life safety educator awareness training for many of our firefighters.
FIREHOUSE: What is the biggest fire problem in your community, and what have you done for public education to target that problem?
LOVE: With a population that is right around one million we are a complex community. We have a real range of issues that we see as fire problems, but clearly residential fires are increasing with an average of one every day. Last year, we experienced our highest number of fire deaths with 13. This was our highest number in 30 years. Two of our fires resulted in seven of the deaths, one with four deaths and another with three. We also had a fire where we narrowly avoided the death of several children and if not for the actions of one of the older children, who learned fire safety skills in a school Risk Watch program, we would have had a tragic situation.
Clearly, our biggest risk in the last five years has been for people age 65 and older. These have been the majority of our fire deaths. Fire Chief Tom Carr suggested to the county executive we needed a focused effort initiated at the highest level of Government to address the increasing risk of senior citizens. As a result, the executive appointed a task force of key government agency staff and senior citizens to work for two years to determine actions that we should take to reduce the risk to seniors. This past year, we received the first report that identifies many actions that we will take to address the risk.
The Fire Prevention and Safety Grant that we have applied for is written specifically to support efforts at reducing the risk to seniors. Key to this is a door-to-door program that I feel is so important to begin to directly influence people who either have risky behavior or are without a working smoke alarm. The door-to-door program will depend on significant efforts of our Operations Division to deliver. In addition to plans for this program, we have target-risk focuses that we do throughout the year in conjunction with our National Capital Region Fire Chief's Committee. Generally, there is press event to publicize efforts and then there is a campaign in the various jurisdictions of the Washington, DC area.
FIREHOUSE: The elderly and young children are most at risk for fire deaths. How does your fire department target those audiences?
LOVE: I mentioned some of efforts that are planning to address the older populations. We are also a participating agency in the NFPA programs of Remembering When and Risk Watch and are part of the Home Safety Council's Expert Network, both programs that offer extensive resources and advice. We are very involved with the many county government agencies that offer services to both of these at-risk groups. Our approach with be multi-disciplined in that we want to incorporate those care and service providers that so frequently visit these two groups to have a strong awareness of what to look for, identify unusual risk and then begin to take measures to improve safety. We feel that it must be all of the community that has responsibility for improving safety. It clearly cannot and should not be the sole responsibility of the fire department. Again, with a million people there are just too many opportunities for an environment to develop that puts people in danger and it takes an all-hands approach that includes social services, faith based, home medical and the fire department to make an impact.
We do think that as individuals our children have a pretty good awareness of what are risky situations and how to navigate safely in this environment. I am somewhat reluctant to say that we achieve success in the area of child safety, because we know that there is always room for improvement. The one area where we want to improve is in the area of implementing Risk Watch. We have only been able to achieve about a 25% participation in the county's elementary schools. This is not acceptable to us, but we are competing against some pretty stringent requirements of "No Child Left Behind." Teachers feel the pressure to prepare children to be able to pass tests that very publicly show school performance. An IQ for safety plays a pretty low priority in school, compared to the measurement of scholastic education. To compensate, we have increased our Risk Watch programs in the public libraries and after school programs. However, we really want to get to 100% of the schools with Risk Watch programs. We also would like to have a fire and life safety program in the interim years between elementary and high school. While I realize and am part of the brotherhood and sisterhood of an occupation that wants to be part of the team that fights every fire, we must be more acutely focused on reducing risk. If for nothing else we recognize that for Everyone (of us) to Go Home, we need to reduce the impact of fire. Fire and life safety education is included as one of the 16 Fire and Life Safety Initiatives. Education to reduce fire risk can result in a safer environment for firefighters and hopefully someday reduce firefighter line-of-duty deaths to close to zero.
RAYMOND OROZCO
FIRE COMMISSIONER
CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT
RAYMOND OROZCO was appointed fire commissioner of the Chicago Fire Department in May 2006. He joined the department as a firefighter in 1980 and advanced to lieutenant, captain and battalion chief. Before becoming commissioner, Orozco was assistant deputy fire commissioner/Bureau of Operations. He earned a bachelor of arts degree from Western Illinois University and an associate's degree from Harold Washington College. Orozco has taught fire science classes for City Wide Colleges, lectured at Northwestern University Center for Public Safety and is on staff at the University of Illinois Fire Institute.
FIREHOUSE: The fire service preaches prevention first, and firefighters are in constant contact with the public daily. What is your department doing to prepare new recruits, and continued training for your firefighters, to conduct public education?
OROZCO: Firefighter and paramedic candidates receive public education and community relations training during their time in the fire academy. This training instructs them on conducting firehouse tours, interacting with constituency and conducting life safety programs for school children. When CFD members are promoted, they also receive additional training during their promotional class, in addition to preparation in media relations.
FIREHOUSE: What is the biggest fire problem in your community, and what have you done for public education to target that problem?
OROZCO: One of the biggest challenges the CFD faces is the lack of working smoke detectors in homes. Even though Chicago passed its smoke detector ordinance in 1983, 90% of our fire fatalities occur where there was no working smoke detector. To combat this trend, the CFD has conducted an aggressive campaign to educate residence on the importance of having a working smoke detector.
This campaign includes public service announcements, billboard campaigns, bus stop shelter advertising, a productive partnership with ABC7 Chicago called "Operation Save a Life" and efforts to supply every residence with a free smoke detector. The CFD has been successful in distributing over 120,000 free smoke detectors in the past three years and these smoke detectors are available at all Chicago firehouses, aldermanic offices and community events. The CFD also make an extra push to provide life safety information in neighbors were a fire fatality has occurred.
In addition, the CFD has created a new program called "Learn and Live." "Learn and Live" is a community-based program where the life safety message is delivered to various communities. Residents are instructed in various aspects of safety, including smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, senior safety, CPR and home escape drills. In addition to "Learn and Live", the CFD has developed a library of free DVDs, with subject matter including:
High-rise building life safety (commercial and residential)Home life safetyHotel life safetyResidential housing/dormitory life safetyCitizen CPR
It is the goal of the CFD to ensure that all Chicagoans are educated and prepared for any emergency that may occur.
FIREHOUSE: The elderly and young children are most at risk for fire deaths. How does your fire department target those audiences?
OROZCO: To combat this trend, the CFD's Public Education Unit conducts fire safety programs in schools, day-care centers, senior centers and senior high-rise buildings throughout the city of Chicago. In addition to these programs, the CFD's Public Education Unit operates the "Survive Alive House," two "Survive Alive Mobile Safety Units" and the "Senior Fire Academy." These programs not only teach life safety in a classroom setting, it provides hands-on training in fire safety and evacuation. In 2007, the CFD's Public Education Unit conducted 5,500 programs, thus bringing the CFD's life safety message to over 500,000 citizens of Chicago.
DAVID W. WEED
COMMUNITY SERVICES OFFICER
WOODINVILLE, WA, FIRE & LIFE
SAFETY DISTRICT
DAVID W. WEED, community services officer for the Woodinville, WA, Fire & Life Safety District, began his fire service career in 1981 as a volunteer firefighter with Woodinville Fire, working his way to the rank of volunteer lieutenant. In 1988, he joined the Seattle-King County Medic One program as a paramedic, and then returned to Woodinville Fire in 2005 at his present rank. He holds paramedic, emergency-response chaplain and grief-counseling certifications, and he teaches CPR/AED and first-aid to the public.
FIREHOUSE: The fire service preaches prevention first, and firefighters are in constant contact with the public daily. What is your department doing to prepare new recruits, and continued training for your firefighters, to conduct public education?
WEED: Although we do not have a formal program to prepare new recruits, we work hard to always have a high customer service focus with our everyday community contact. One way we accomplish this is by having a full-time community services officer (CSO) who works with both the community and the crews. The CSO is able to maintain daily contact with each crew and assure that they are equipped and informed with ways to provide adequate public education and customer service.
FIREHOUSE: What is the biggest fire problem in your community, and what have you done for public education to target that problem?
WEED: Our biggest fire problem is within our retirement apartment communities and assisted-living homes. We have worked with both the staff and residents in these communities and teach ongoing fire safety. We also play a key role in fire drills so we can teach the elderly residents how to safely exit the building and move to a safe area. By establishing a relationship with the residents and staff through public education, the hands-on fire drills are highly effective.
FIREHOUSE: The elderly and young children are most at risk for fire deaths. How does your fire department target those audiences?
WEED: We target the elderly by being very intentional in building an ongoing relationship with the communities they live in. Fire crews provide weekly blood pressure checks in each of our retirement and assisted-living communities. This helps us build a relationship with the residents and gives us a chance to get to know them outside of an emergency situation. This then gives us a foundation with which to teach them fire safety; sometimes through formal classes and sometimes through casual conversation while they are waiting to have their blood pressure taken.
The children are targeted through activities within the elementary schools. We teach fire safety and simple first-aid. We also teach "Student Support Teams" within the schools. These are teams of students that are trained in a simplified and modified Citizen Emergency Response Team (CERT) class. They are then able to assist the teachers in the event of a crisis that may occur during school. Being in the Northwest, this could likely be in the event of an earthquake. Naturally, the students who complete the training are well informed on fire safety and what to do during an emergency.
author: By MARK EMERY




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