National Fire Protection Association Blog

Work in Progress: America Burning at 40 - Fire prevention and protection

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the fourth in a series of posts about the 40^th anniversary of America Burning and the related article, “Work in Progress” in this month’s NFPA Journal. The report stresses prevention, with a call for more fire department emphasis on fire prevention, fire safety education, and inspections. They also called for built-in fire safety measures which can detect and suppress a fire before it grows large enough to cause a major disaster.” In 1977, only 22% of US homes had at least one smoke alarm. That’s up to 96% today. NFPA coordinates the Fire Sprinkler Initiative to increase the use of home fire sprinklers.

The Commission also advocated programs on fire safety in the media for teachers and for specific occupancies. They advised that the proposed USFA “assist, augment and evaluate existing public and private fire safety education efforts.” Today, USFA and NFPA both have a wide variety of safety materials on their websites.

NFPA is now seeking public input for a proposed new document, NFPA 1730: Standard on Organization and Deployment of Fire Prevention Inspection and Code Enforcement, Plan Review, Investigation, and Public Education Operations to the Public.

What’s happening with fire prevention in your community? What else should the fire safety community be doing to prevent fires and fire losses?

Tracy Koslowski of Arizona, an innovator in public education, is chosen as Educator of the Year

Tracy Koslowski, public education/information
manager and fire marshal for the Drexel Heights Fire District in Tucson, Arizona, has been named the 2013 Fire and Life Safety Educator of the Year.

A third generation firefighter, Koslowski began
using NFPA’s Learn Not to Burn Preschool Program in 1993 when she was a volunteer at the Tucson Fire Department. She continues to teach it. She has also taught Risk Watch and Remembering When for many years and has expanded Fire Prevention Week in Tucson into Fire Prevention Month. During the past 10 years, she has taken the campaign to all of the schools in the district, visiting more than
40,000 students.

In response to safety concerns in the community, Koslowski implemented a babysitter training course, which teaches kitchen safety, fire safety, CPR, first aid, poison  prevention, and other life safety skills. In addition, she developed the Fire Fit Cadet Program, which includes basic firefighting skills, fire and life safety training, physical fitness, and nutrition classes. Drawing guidance from NFPA’s Remembering When program, Koslowski created the Senior Citizen Fire Academy. She also created the Public Education Volunteer Team to keep the district’s public education programs operating in the face of budget constraints.

Koslowski will receive a $1,000 honorarium and will be flown to Chicago in June for an award presentation at the Opening General Session of the annual NFPA Conference & Expo. Drexel Heights Fire District will receive a $1,000 donation to support public education activities.

NFPA collects fire experience data from thousands of U.S. fire departments

Each year, NFPA’s Fire Analysis and Research group sends out a fire experience survey to over 20,000 U.S. fire departments protecting larger communities with populations of 50,000 or more, and to a sample of departments protecting smaller communities to collect data on their fire experience.   Now through the end of May, the survey forms will be collected by mail and e-mail, and the results will produce estimates on the overall fire problem in the U.S.   Statistics on the number of fires and associated losses, fire department calls, data by region and community size, as well information on firefighter injuries will be published in the September/October issue of NFPA Journal and in the annual fire loss in the U.S. report.   Read more about the fire loss report. 

The survey would not be possible without the help of the U.S. fire departments and we are truly appreciative of the fire departments that receive a survey form and respond.

NFPA adapts its Learn Not to Burn children’s program for Grade 1 students

Our Learn Not to Burn (LNTB) program has gotten another update, this time for teaching first grade students about fire safety basics.

While the preschool program remains, this slightly older-oriented version incorporates video in place of songs and includes six lesson plans. They address identifying and avoiding emergency situations, as well as how to react if they do occur.

LNTB Level 1 can be taught as an individual, short course, or combined with an existing language arts course. Teacher information, teaching points, objectives, materials and step-by-step plans for each lesson are built into the program. Since the lesson plans for each topic are written by certified classroom teachers, and meet many common core standards for language arts, they fit easily into the curriculum.

The multimedia component sparks the same enthusiasm for elementary school students that the music does for preschoolers, and kids tend to bring that energy home with them.

Like the original LNTB program, the update is meant to continue on into and benefit the students’ households. A letter with safety information, and a fire safety family activity, connects the home with what was learned in the classroom.

All six lessons are available for free at NFPA’s website. For more information about LNTB and other public safety initiatives, visit www.nfpa.org/education.

Applications are now available for $5,000 Rolf Jensen public education grant

Fire departments in the United States and Canada that are introducing or maintaining a fire and life safety program or campaign can have their efforts supported by the Rolf H. Jensen Memorial Public Education Grant. 

Established in the name of Rolf H. Jensen, a leading authority on fire protection engineering who served on NFPA’s board of directors, the grant provides $5,000 to support a fire department’s program or campaign, a commemorative plaque, and the recipient’s name inscribed on the grant winner’s plaque displayed at NFPA headquarters.

The 2012 recipient, Brockton Fire Department in Brockton, Massachusetts, implemented its “High-Rise Apartment Safety and Emergency Preparedness Program” with support from the grant.Brockton officials received the award earlier this year during a presentation at one of the city's high rise apartment buildings (above). NFPA’s Vice President of Field Operations and Education Gary Keith (pictured on the right) presented the plaque to Brockton Fire Chief Richard Francis and Mayor Linda Balzotti.

Think your department is deserving? Hurry! The deadline for applications is February 8, 2013.

Memphis Fire Department partners with NFPA to reduce fire deaths and injuries

In 2012 and 2013, NFPA Public Education Division has been working with the Memphis Fire Department on a urban project to develop strategies to reduce deaths and injuries in Memphis, particularly in high-risk-to-fire neighborhoods. Some of the partnership activities include using data to determine the highest-risk populations, conducting discussion groups among firefighters serving the communities with the most fire runs, conducting focus groups among residents of the high-risk communities and ministers and faith-based leaders serving those communities, Fire Prevention Week outreach, and training Memphis public education staff on NFPA public education programs.
Daryl Payton, chief of Operations for the Memphis Fire Department, said that he appreciates that NFPA is working with the fire department on strategies to reduce fire deaths in high-risk communities. He said that Memphis Fire Department personnel think that working with the faith-based communities will be particularly important to Memphis residents.

Pictured below are the Memphis public education staff and firefighters from Station one who participated in a train-the-trainer session for Remembering When: A Fire and Fall Prevention Program for Older Adults conducted by Sharon Gamache and Judy Comoletti at the Memphis Fire Museum

Remembering When training in Memphis includes role plays of teaching the Remembering When fire prevention behaviors.

Pictured are firefighters from Engines 10 and 14 at Station 14 who participated in discussions about serving the people of their community conducted by NFPA.

Deputy Chief Operations Daryl Payton and fire safety educators Marion Nance and Patrice Lester participate in an educational session on using NFPA’s website.

New free NFPA fall prevention posters are available for older adults in your community

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one out of three adults 65 and older fall each year. In fact, falls are the leading cause of injury death among older adults age 65 and older. To help prevent falls and to enhance NFPA’s Remembering When™:  A Fire and Fall Prevention Program for Older Adults, NFPA’s Public Education Division has just published three new fall prevention posters in English and Spanish that cover the topics of exercising for balance, installing handrails, and removing clutter. Earlier this year, four fire safety posters were posted on the topics of escape planning, smoke alarms, space heater safety, and cooking safety.
The 8 ½-by-11 four-color posters, which can be downloaded from NFPA’s website, can be put on bulletin boards or windows of senior centers, fire stations, places of worship, grocery stores, restaurants, libraries, senior housing, or assisted-living buildings. They can also be handed directly to older adults who attend a group presentation or are visited in the home. There is also room on the posters for local fire department contact information.

Easy ways to remind the public to replace smoke alarm batteries

You've set those clocks back an hour this weekend (and hopefully enjoyed an extra hour of sleep), but did you also replace the batteries in your smoke alarms?

Duracell is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its Change Your Clock, Change Your Battery Campaign, which offers fire departments tips and tools for encouraging communities to swap out the old batteries for new ones. The program includes an array of downloadable materials, including public service announcements and fire statistics developed by NFPA. Energizer is also donating a limited number of batteries to departments in high-risk areas.

Don't forget to also check out NFPA's extensive information on smoke alarms, including various reports and fact sheets.

Philadelphia conducts “Dump the Dorms” event for campus safety

Fitting well with this year’s Fire Prevention Week theme “Have Two Ways Out,” the Philadelphia Fire Department, the Michael H. Minger Foundation, and Campus Firewatch conducted a fire drill among local Philadelphia universities the evening of October 18. The universities practiced their respective escape plans by evacuating pre-selected dormitories. The campus of Drexel University served as host for the Philadelphia Fire Department’s mock firefighting operations during a campus fire.
The Michael H. Minger Foundation is producing a documentary entitled “9 Fires” highlighting the devastating impact of nine campus fires in 2012.
Below are photos from the firefighting event at Drexel University.

Sparky the Fire Dog steps out with friends in New York City for AdWeek

Surrounded by a cast of characters on the steps of the New York Public Library, Sparky the Fire Dog® stepped out in true fire-safety style in New York City.  In town to kick-off Advertising Week and the Madison Avenue Walk of Fame, Sparky and his fellow icons immediately caught the attention of passersby, many of whom jumped up on the steps for a unique photo opportunity with this unsual bunch.  The characters mingled with the crowd before joining a private event inside where the favorite icon for 2012, selected by public vote, was announced.  “Flo” from Progressive was selected as this year’s winner. 

Do you recognize all the members of this star-studded group?