The State of Fire and Life Safety Education in America Webinar
July 31, 2007

The Home Safety Council would like to thank everyone for their participation in the State of Fire and Life Safety in Education Webinar and for sending in such thought provoking questions. Included below is a transcript of the questions submitted during the presentation and responses provided by the presenters. If you have questions or would like any additional information regarding the discussion below, please email info@homesafetycouncil.org and a response will be sent back to you.

Q:  How effective are CERT Teams?

A:  (Meri-K Appy) Sorry, can’t speak to this one – it’s outside my area of expertise…

Q:  FLSE and prevention programs are focused a lot on elementary schools. How would you go about incorporating it into the higher levels? 

A:  (Meri-K Appy) HSC has several programs targeting adults.  Visit www.homesafetycouncil.org to learn more.

Q:  Is there an available list of which U.S. FD’s responded to this survey?

A:  (Andrea C. Gielen, Sc.D., Sc.M.) The 2006 National Directory of Fire Chiefs and EMS Administrators was used to select a sample from among the 29,221 fire departments in the United States.  A total of 7,408 fire departments, stratified by type of department, size of population served, and geographic region were selected to receive the survey.  A total of 1,523 completed surveys were returned. We cannot disclose the names of respondents as this was a confidential survey.

Q:  Did any of these surveys come back saying that they utilize the CERT program in order to help with supplies, and advocacy?

A:  (Andrea C. Gielen, Sc.D., Sc.M.) None of the surveys mentioned this, but we did not specifically ask about CERT

Q:  Did any FLSE departments state that materials needed in other languages cause a problem?  Or mention the need for translators to present?

A:  (Meri-K Appy) As I mentioned, the need for fire and life safety educators to reach out to diverse members of the community has never been greater.  While language barriers certainly exist, that’s only one aspect of the challenge. For the last several years HSC has been studying the problem of LITERACY with respect to safety. Much of the safety information available through local fire departments is written at a level beyond what millions of people in our country could read and understand.  Through a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, HSC has created the Home Safety Literacy Project, http://www.homesafetycouncil.org/expert_network/en_literacy_w001.aspx, with free materials for use by local adult literacy experts and fire departments working as a team.

Q: Would the Home Safety Council be able to put together a Directory of Personnel involved in FLSE?

A:  (Meri-K Appy) How I wish I could do this!  Not sure what it would take….and keeping it updated might be a bit of a nightmare.  Is there a particular reason you would find this helpful?  Maybe there is another way around this!

Q:  How can we encourage the departments that don't have schools to understand that they still have an entire community that needs safety education? 

A:  (Meri-K Appy) I imagine even though there are no schools in your community, there are still children living there, yes?  My approach would be to help your decision-makers understand the basic fact that safety is an ADULT responsibility, not a child’s.  While we want kids to understand how to keep themselves safe, at the end of the day, they can’t drive to the store to buy a smoke alarm, install it properly, and keep it working.  In many cases, they may sleep right through the alarm if a fire broke out.  So adults need to accept responsibility…and without educating them, we’re not doing our job.  You can use the survey results to show how the vast majority of fire departments focus mostly on children.  HSC believes strongly we need to broaden our approach to target adults, perhaps through the workplace and other venues.

Q:  Is there Level III certification now?

A:  (Meri-K Appy)  Yes – but I do not know details about what states have written the course to certify for Level III.  I believe the new chair of the NFPA 1035 Committee is Ernest Grant from the Jaycees Burn Foundation in North Carolina.  Suggest you contact him on this at egrant@unch.unc.edu – please tell him hello for me!

Q:  Is there a letter from the council addressed directly to chiefs about the importance of FLSE and the national out cry for more of it?

A:  (Meri-K Appy) Not yet, but this is a fabulous idea.  Maybe it could be co-authored by the new Chairman of our Board, Chief Dennis Compton from Arizona.  He’s highly respected in the Chiefs world!

Q:  Do you have speakers available for training events?

A:  (Meri-K Appy) Yes, but typically for large events only, state-level or regional as our schedules are a bit over-crowded!

Q:  Can you tell how many fire departments in each of our states participated?

A:  (Andrea C. Gielen, Sc.D., Sc.M.) Yes, it would be possible to tally the number of respondents by state, but the sample sizes within states will mostly likely be too small to draw conclusions about individual states.

Q:  Is there a movement in the fire service to reach out to other organizations for FLSE? Texas Forest Service is partnering with AARP & Texas Master Naturalists for wildfire prevention & firewise.

A:  (Meri-K Appy) I can’t speak for the whole fire service but partnership is a vital part of what HSC does, and we encourage it among our members.  The partnership you mention sounds terrific – if you could share details I’d be interested.  Are you evaluating this outreach method by chance?

Q: In your survey, were you able to structure the questions so that you could discern between a department proactively providing public education on a yearly basis or were they providing that upon request?  The same for public awareness.

A:  (Andrea C. Gielen, Sc.D., Sc.M.) No, we were not able to distinguish between proactive versus reactive activities. We simply asked about what the activities were (true for both pubic education and public awareness activities).

Q:  Do any of you know of any National efforts to change National Fire Prevention Week to National Fire Prevention Month?  We need more national emphasis of the importance of FLSE.

A:  (Meri-K Appy) I’m not aware of plans to broaden Fire Prevention Week, which has enjoyed a Congressional Proclamation since 1922…any change to this would, I understand, require “starting over” to get it declared a month instead of a week, so I doubt this is in the cards but I can’t speak for NFPA…Having said this, HSC has chosen to highlight Fire Safety Month in October rather than use the term “Fire Prevention Week” to expand the time frame and include messaging beyond primary prevention – e.g., home fire drills, sprinklers, etc.

Q:  Is there any activity to get VFD chiefs to challenge the paradigm that all volunteers are in suppression & that they should establish a FLSE and recruit for volunteers for it?  There're people who would like to part of a VFD but not be in operations. 

A:  (Meri-K Appy) Great question.  I am not aware of any specific activity but will make a note to reach out to NVFC for more information.  Thanks for asking this.

Q:  What about direct distribution to fire chiefs of results and discussion points (crafted for that audience), beyond the august conference?

A:  (Meri-K Appy) I plan to meet with the head of the Fire and Life Safety Section of IAFC about this – hey, here’s an idea!  Would you care to come to the presentation Denny Compton and I are doing at the Chiefs meeting at IAFC in Atlanta on August 24 from 3 – 4:30 pm?  I don’t hold out hope for a big crowd at that time of day but we’ll get some key chiefs from the section and it’s an opportunity to pick their brains about what the survey says to them.  I’d be glad to try to arrange a pass for you to get in if you’re interested…

Q:  What sort of C.E.R.T information do you all have to help us?

A:  (Meri-K Appy) I need to educate myself better about the C.E.R.T. process – at the moment HSC has no direct relationship with them.  But our disaster preparedness materials from the Home Safety Literacy Project and the “Get Ready with Freddie” program for kids might be very useful for you…please be sure to attend our next Webinar on this! The next event is taking place on Wednesday, August 29 from 1-2pm.

Q:  Can we get a copy of the power point?

A:  (Meri-K Appy) Yes, the Power Point is available online at: www.homesafetycouncil.org/expertnetworkwebinars_archive.

Q:  What's your ultimate aim: 100% of fire depts doing FLSE or X% doing quality, data-driven, evaluated FLSE?

A:  (Meri-K Appy) Frankly, it’s both.  Our vision is that every fire department member would see fire and life safety education as their responsibility and a vital part of the service they offer the community.  We are also committed to advocating for resources to increase the number of fire departments with at least one person assigned to FLSE full-time.  This person would have the training, authority and sufficient resources to build FLSE programs that are well-researched, strategically targeted, implemented effectively and in a sustained way…and evaluated.  He or she would enjoy the full support of the Chief and community leaders and direct participation and support of partners inside and outside the department.  That’s the picture I have in my mind as I think of the future of fire and life safety education in U.S. fire departments.  HSC will do everything in our power to make this a reality.

Q:  How do I get a Copy of this toolbox?

A:  (Meri-K Appy) Are you a member of the HSC Expert Network?  If not, please register now – you will receive an email offering the Toolbox shortly afterwards.  If you are already a member but have not received your Toolbox, please send an email to info@homesafetycouncil.org and request to have one shipped to you, free of charge.

Q:  Are these results being sent to Mayor's of Cities who have control over city budgets?

A:  (Meri-K Appy) This is a wonderful idea – let me put this on our “To Do” list!  Thanks for participating in our Webinar…

Q:  Will this WebCast be archived so others can listen to the audio if they could not be at a computer during this hour?  Also would like to have the August Webinar on Disaster Preparedness archived - even if only for one month. Summer limits access for some.

A:  (Meri-K Appy) Yes, all of the Webinar presentations will be archived and available online at: www.homesafetycouncil.org/expertnetworkwebinars_archive.

Q:  Will you e-mail us with the next date?

A:  (Meri-K Appy) You bet!  Please note the next Webinar is scheduled for Wednesday, August 29 from 1-2pm EDT. We will send invitations out via email two weeks before the event. We will also be posting the complete schedule of Webinar dates online once we’ve got them finalized. Check back to www.homesafetycouncil.org/expertnetwork webinars.com for additional information.

Q:  In educating the public, one area that is never discussed is the topic of insurance for the owners, or renters.  We have this problem in our area. As a CERT team instructor, I educate a lot of people in this.

A:  (Meri-K Appy) Can you share brief information on the top points you share with your community about insurance?  We’d be glad to post this on our Web site…and it would educate me more about this important topic, too!

Q:  In our city, the fire department works with other agencies such as the American Red Cross and CERT to help out with education.

A:  (Meri-K Appy) Great idea, HSC believes in strong partnerships at all levels…local, state, regional, and national!

Q:  Comment - those who rated this education as "not important" might well mean that given all they have to do, the education just can't be a priority.

A: (Meri-K Appy) I’m sure this was meant in relative terms.  And I admit to a bias here…but to me, relying on emergency response alone will ever allow us to achieve our public safety goals.  Prevention and education are as critical to the safety infrastructure of a community as fire suppression and response.  We need more focus and more resources to help departments integrate this into their system.

Q:  With around 88% of the nation's fire departments being volunteer and the survey results showing that these departments struggle the most with FSLE issues, this seems to be the largest barrier that will be faced.  Comment for thoughts.

A:  (Meri-K Appy) Let’s chat about this when you have a moment.  I agree completely.  What can we do together to help volunteer departments specifically do more and better fire and life safety education?

Q: I have used your handout materials at community education days--THANK YOU.  I have $0 budget for education.

A:  (Meri-K Appy) We’re delighted to help.  Thanks for participating in the Webinar and let us know if there are tools you would find especially useful that you don’t have.  We can’t promise to create them immediately…but we do listen to our customers in setting HSC priorities!

Q:  I think it would be interesting to poll the FLSE and the Chief - and make a comparison.  I believe in many departments which have FLSE the Chief is not aware of all that is being done.

A:  (Meri-K Appy) I suspect you may be correct.  Let me think about how to do this…

Q:  There needs to be a shift in emphasis on everyone's part to place FLSE to a higher degree and a wider acceptance of this philosophy. We all have become pretty effective in firefighting, now we need to become effective in FSLE.

A:  (Meri-K Appy) I couldn’t agree more!  Thanks for participating in our Webinar!

Q:  Many departments do not know where to begin. A list of Departments and the programs that they cover could be helpful. I know many programs are outstanding and would share the info with others

A:  (Meri-K Appy) Thanks for this comment.  The list would be quite long…but I hear what you’re saying.  Maybe we can figure out a way to help departments begin the process with a look at their own community…who is most at risk?  How could we reach those folks?  And then pick a few practical programs that might help them gain experience and confidence with their public education efforts.  If you have any specific ideas on what would work best from your perspective, please let me know.

Q:  Culture Changing starts somewhat higher than the fire chief also. We need to look to the Budget Personnel who when we give the FD budget they need not cut it.

A:  (Meri-K Appy) Great point!  Thanks for sharing it and for participating in our Webinar!

Q:  Another way to foster a FLSE culture in the fire department and community is for members of fire science advisory committees to advocate degree concentrations in fire prevention.

A: (Meri-K Appy) Gosh, this is a new one for me.  Can you explain further how this might be achieved?  Thanks for participating in the Webinar!

Q:  I am delighted though that Ozzie Markiah and Meri-K are speaking to the Fire Chiefs...that is a great start to changing minds or at least bringing it before them.

A:  (Meri-K Appy) Yes, and we’re not alone by any means.  The best thing is when the Chiefs talk to EACH OTHER about the importance of fire and life safety education.  More and more of them are doing this, too!

Q:  Interesting survey.  Your goal to improve FLSE is much needed.  I am not aware of FLSE in my home community other than in schools; I will ask. Thank you.

A:  (Meri-K Appy) Thanks.  Great to have you on the Webinar!

Q:  DeKalb County Fire Rescue (in the metro Atlanta area) has a very busy C.E.R.T. program, and is currently working with groups and businesses within the community to provide in-house C.E.R.T. training to these groups and would be very interested in a partner.

A:  (Meri-K Appy) I must confess HSC is not working directly with C.E.R.T.  Is there someone at the national level with whom we should be talking?

Q:  Maybe someone should also recommend the idea of partnering with injury professions in health depts, universities etc could be helpful to fire depts.

A:  (Meri-K Appy) HSC truly values our partnerships with colleagues in the public health arena, not the least of which is our relationship with your own fine institution, The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health!  We would encourage any local fire department to reach out to the injury prevention experts at their state and/or local health department and universities who bring a whole new set of skills and insights to the work of fire and life safety educators!

Q:  Comment:  Thank you for all your work.  I use your materials often and refer many to your web to obtain information and materials. 

A:  (Meri-K Appy) Thanks, we consider it a great privilege to help members of the fire and life safety community do more and better public education.  Thanks for being a part of the HSC Expert Network and for participating in our Webinar series!

Q:  I am curious how many Fire Departments are expanding their FLSE efforts beyond Fire & burn prevention to unintentional injuries.

A:  (Andrea C. Gielen, Sc.D., Sc.M.) The categories of activities did not specify “unintentional injury” as an activity, but did cover other topics besides fire and burn prevention, such as car safety seats.  The items listed on the slides were included in the checklist response options, although respondents were free to also indicate “other” and fill in what it was. I don’t recall anyone inserting “unintentional injury”.

Q:  Excellent discussion!!   Thank You!!

A:  (Meri-K Appy) You’re welcome, and thanks for joining us!  Hope you’ll attend all 10 of our Webinars, presented through the generosity of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/FEMA.  Another example of how the FIRE Act is helping fire departments improve their service to the community!