THE HOME SAFETY COUNCIL® AND JOHNS HOPKINS BLOOMBERG SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH INTRODUCE NEW FIRE DEPARTMENT RESEARCH IDENTIFYING PUBLIC SAFETY NEEDS

Nationwide Survey of Fire Chiefs Shows Unmet Needs in Fire and Life Safety Public Education and Training Resources

A new survey commissioned by the national nonprofit Home Safety Council and conducted by Johns Hopkins reveals that only a small percentage (12%) of U.S. fire departments have the benefit of assigning personnel exclusively to public education roles. Most of the public safety education outreach is carried out by personnel who are juggling multiple duties. While 86 percent of U.S. fire departments report that they perform some type of fire and life safety education outreach, most fire chiefs say they want to do more.

The Home Safety Council partnered with the Center for Injury Research and Policy at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to conduct this first-ever national fire and life safety education survey. The survey benchmarks the fire and life safety educational services provided by the U.S. fire service, and assesses the current state of educational programming, identifying needs for training and additional resources.

“The survey results document that our nation needs to invest much more in local fire and life safety education,” said Meri-K Appy, president of the Home Safety Council. “Everyone deserves to have the knowledge and skills needed to be prepared in a fire emergency. That preparation saves lives. The Home Safety Council is committed to finding ways to support our nation’s fire chiefs as they seek to increase their community fire safety outreach.”

Funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the comprehensive survey polled fire chiefs from volunteer, career and combination departments, in urban and rural communities across the nation. The survey documented that most U.S. fire chiefs are not satisfied with the current level of fire and life safety education programming. Many of the fire chiefs named competing priorities and a lack of resources and funding as key obstacles.

“It seems that when there are budgetary cuts in fire services, it’s usually in the fire prevention unit. Additionally, so much time and money is spent training for and responding to fire and other incidents that many fire departments have limited resources left for prevention activities, such as fire safety educational outreach,” said Chief Jim Harmes, president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs. “This survey helps us see there is widespread agreement that we can and should do more. As just one example, overall we’re doing a great job of reaching children, but we may not be as good at reaching caregivers, older adults, and people whose native language is not English.”

Fire is the third-leading cause of injury-related death within the home in the U.S., according to Home Safety Council research,* causing an average of more than 3,400 fatalities each year. “Fires and burns are a leading public health problem and, as representatives of the public health field, we are eager to partner with the fire service and help them do more to advance prevention. This survey is a great step toward forming those critical partnerships,” said Andrea C. Gielen, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “The survey results clearly show that our fire leaders are pre-disposed and looking for ways to do more to educate the public. We’re encouraged by the response and want to work with fire leaders to help them get the tools they need to improve the current state of public fire education.”

Survey Findings

Additional survey findings help give a picture of the current state of Fire and Life Safety Education (FLSE) in the U.S. fire service, and include:

• 86% of fire departments conduct some type of FLSE, most frequently using uniformed personnel with multiple responsibilities (56%). Staff assigned exclusively to FLSE activities is rare (12%).
• 85% of fire departments spend less than 10 hours on FLSE per week.
• Elementary school presentations (80%), fire safety week or month events (68%), older adult presentations (40%) and health fairs (40%) were the most frequently reported types of FLSE activities.
• The focus of FLSE activities was most commonly reported as fire prevention (82%), fire escape planning (73%), smoke alarms (71%), and fire extinguishers (53%) while home fire sprinkler systems (5%), public health emergencies (11%) and disaster preparedness (24%) were reported less frequently.
• Nationally, 68% of fire departments distribute or install injury prevention products, most commonly household smoke alarms (51%). Fire escape ladders (2%), bicycle helmets (8%), fire extinguishers (10%), smoke alarms for people with hearing difficulty (8%) and carbon monoxide detectors (14%) are less commonly distributed or installed.

Home Safety Council Supports Fire and Life Safety Education

For more than 10 years, the Home Safety Council has recognized and responded to the local fire service need for additional pubic education resources and is working hard to continue supporting the vital efforts of community fire and life safety educators. Through a network of partnerships, the Home Safety Council develops and distributes a wide range of home injury prevention teaching tools and other resources for fire and life safety educators. These materials are made available online and in hard copy at little or no cost to members of the Home Safety Council’s Expert Network – a nationwide online community of more than 4,500 fire and life safety educators.

For online access to all of HSC’s fire safety resources for community educators, visit www.homesafetycouncil.org/expertnetwork.

Research Methodology:

A 35-item survey was mailed to a sample of 7,408 U.S. fire departments, randomly selected from the National Public Safety Information Bureau's 2006 Directory of Fire Chiefs and EMS Administrators. From the total population of 21,745 fire departments, the random sample was stratified by size of population served (<10,000, >10,000), region of the country (NE, MW, SE, S, W), and department type (volunteer, career, combination).

About the Home Safety Council

The Home Safety Council (HSC) is the only national nonprofit organization solely dedicated to preventing home related injuries that result in nearly 20,000 deaths and 21 million medical visits on average each year. Through national programs, partnerships and the support of volunteers, HSC educates people of all ages to be safer in and around their homes. The Home Safety Council is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.

About the Center for Injury Research and Policy at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

The Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy is dedicated to high quality research that informs the establishment of programs and policies aimed at controlling the incidence, severity and consequences of injuries; the application of this research through professional practice; and the integration of research and practice with the education of future research scientists and practitioners in injury control.

*State of Home Safety in America™ report (2004)