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Fire Prevention and Public Education
I'm relatively new to Firefighter Nation, but I'm noticing an unfortunate trend--this site seems to be geared toward the "fun" aspects of firefighting, i.e. structural firefighting, vehicular rescue and the like. It makes me wonder what the main thrust of Firefighter Nation is supposed to be; is it a training and informational resource, or is it a firefighters' MySpace, existing only for storytelling and socializing? Time will tell, but I'd like to get a discussion going on prevention and public education in rural communities. Does your volunteer department provide fire prevention and education services? If so, how? Does it impact your emergency response capability at all?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Engineco913 on
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As the creator of the website, Webchief has been pretty open in saying the professional AND social network for firefighters. There has been a ton of bs posts and a few real good ones mixed in. Does it take a little effort to find quality? Of course it does, and it does on most websites. This isn't a magazine website where it is news only.
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Permalink Reply by Paul Montpetit on
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As in medicine...it is much easier and cheaper to prevent a problem than to have to deal with it....fires included....so I feel that Fire Prevention is very important.....Paul
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Permalink Reply by Mitchell Fire Company on
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It's highly unpopular here in the United States, but I'm coming around to the European model more and more; strict state (or provincial) and national fire codes, and local (or regional) fire departments legally empowered to enforce them, along with a greatly expanded public education role. I read an article earlier this year about Stockholm, Sweden's fire department--almost half of their personnel are assigned to prevention and education, and they have an astonishingly low rate of structure fires. Why can't we do it here? A few reasons: 1)a very organized builders' lobby opposing fire safe legislation, 2) fire service indifference (career departments want to keep their suppression personnel and don't want to collaborate with volunteers, and the volunteers are too apathetic), 3) our collective national suspicion of anything that sounds like it infringes on propety rights. The latter is when we hear ambiguous griping about government taking away our "freedom." Personally, I think that if you regard the freedom to use a non-UL approved extension cord in your house while you're drinking and smoking as a sacred and inalienable right, then maybe we ought to invoke Darwin's law and let your house burn. If you think it's insensitive to make examples of people, I'd point to the Japanese fire service; in that country, if a fire in your home or residence is found to be your fault, you are fined. Also, such people are shunned due to the danger they've exposed their neighbors to. Once again, an example from a nation with a dramatically lower instance of structure fires than our own. Food for thought.
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Permalink Reply by Jay Nicholson on
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The problem is us. The fire service needs to demand it's fair share of money. California passed a sales tax increase a few years ago to additionally fund public safety. Although I don't have the exact figures, it's my understanding that 95% of that revenue stream went to LE. The Sheriff, DA and even the frigging probation dept. I believe Capt. Schlags said the situation in Santa Barbara County was similar. I think FD and LE should be a 50/50 endevour.
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Permalink Reply by Jenny Holderby on
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You have some very astute observations some I can agree with others I am not so comfortable with.
Yes the US does need more (blanket) strict codes for buildings, especially commercial buildings, appliances etc. Building codes need to be more fire proof so that there are fewer fires which will also lead to fewer firefighters being injured or killed. To do this, contractors have to spend more time in planning and in construction and use better quality materials which leads to higher costs. Everybody wants to cut corners. A prime example is truss roofs & the way they are made held together, made with thinner wood & metal joints that melt.
I think we are improving since we (or at least here) we don't find balloon construction. Electrical wiring when done properly seldom shorts out which used to be one of the top causes of fire. We see fewer "fuse boxes" and more breaker boxes with the ability to hold a heavier load. Years ago many rooms were connected and joined/controled with one fuse. The wiring itself is safer. Fire walls & fire doors also make an impact on the burn time.
The changing of the materials used in furniture, beds & carpets have made a difference. Insurance companies have stricter rules or higher premiums so more people are trying to get their premium down. More homes are built with residential sprinkler systems or automatic fire alarms.
Volunteer fire departments aren't apathetic, at least where I am. We participate in fire prevention and pubic education but it doesn't affect our response capability at all. We volunteer our time for both. The problem is that we don't have a lot of folks available to do fire prevention during normal "business" hours so we have to use unconventional methods or at least take a different approach. One of the problems found in areas with volunteer fire departments is that there are not as strict building codes or enforcement. It is a matter of economics.
We HAVE noticed a difference in the number of structure fires we respond to in the last few years. They have gone down in number from 20-30 to less than 10 per year since the mid 90s. Last year we had only 5 structure fires and two of those were a barn and an out building. We have fewer fires started by children both inside and outside. Our approach to wildland fires has changed. When we have frequent fires in an area we turn it over to the authorities who now investigate and follow up on who is setting them.
In all we work smarter, not harder.
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In other countries firefighters are military or law enforcement personnel. We aren't socialized. We pay for insurance. In other countries the government will accuse/shun/penalize people who have fires in their homes/businesses. It may be an excellent method of fire prevention but being afraid is at least a violation of rights in this country.
Other countries have a more strict view of arson as well. If that were true here, there would be less of the crime committed, fewer fires.
In the US we like lights & gizmos & gadgets that you won't find in other homes around the world. We like glamor & to show off & build huge if not well constructed homes. We cram people into multi-dwelling often poorly constructed condos & appartment buildings. We build modular homes or double wide mobile homes. Although I must admit that those have also improved over the years.
We have fires caused by candles left unattended, clothing or other material falling on space heaters, by curling irons, coffee pots, microwaves.
We do have fewer fires caused by wood stoves, fuel oil furnaces & kerosene heaters than in the past.
Fire suppression and prevention is directly related to socio/economics in most areas.
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The apathy among the volunteer service I refer to is at the political level; no disrespect to the NVFC, but there is no large, coordinated national effort from volunteer firefighters to encourage standardization and adoption of model codes. That's unfortunate, because most fires--and most fatal fires--occur in residences. Also, the USFA report "A Profile of the Rural Fire Problem in the United States" shows that the fire problem is proportionately greater in rural America. Rural volunteers have (or ought to have) a larger stake than their urban counterparts in mitigating residential fire hazards. With regard to the organization of fire departments, the examples I cited are both civil agencies not affiliated with defense or law enforcement, which to me lends more credibility to their operations; also, I think that the assessment of penalties and ostracism is not a violation of rights, but rather a violation of cultural norms here in the U.S. But to be honest, if that kind of shock embarasses people into more responsible conduct of business and home ownership, then as a culture maybe we should be more willing to bend some feelings in the name of community quality of life.
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Permalink Reply by Barbara Nelson on
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You should go look at the groups there is a "fire prevention" group. I am part of it and there are lots of good ideas.
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I know that fire prevention is VERY important. Our district has started using our support people to help with fire prevention (our department is a combo 6 paid 8-5 the rest volunteer) that has been very nice. Back to the post. The National Fire Academy has 3 pub ed courses you can apply for and maybe you can bring back some information to get people interested in pub ed again. I will tell you It can be flustrating when you are called to a kitchen fire at 3 am and find the pub ed info. on the refridgeratior and no battery in the smoke detector. You can join the fire prevention group it has a lot if information to share.
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Permalink Reply by Terry Ingram, Sr. on
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MY THOUGHTS ARE EDUCATING THE CHILDREN IN THE SCHOOLS, AND THROUGH THE MEDIA. LOTS AND LOTS OF DEPARTMENTS, PAID OR VOLUNTEER DO A WONDERFUL JOB AT THIS. NOT JUST DURING OCTOBER EITHER. YOU CAN EDUCATE ALL YOU CAN, BUT IF PEOPLE ARE'NT GOING TO PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH, WELL IT'S NOT OUR FAULT. WE DID OUR BEST. THANKS
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Permalink Reply by Brian Dumser on
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We need to educate the Media first. If I had a nickle for every time they use the term "ambulance driver" instead of EMT or Paramedic, I'd be a millionaire! They also continue to refer to SCBA's as "oxygen tanks". But I agree, we need to get through to the school children before they can develop bad fire safety habits. Stay safe!
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While prevention for kids is important (and more entertaining than, say, inspecting a business), fire prevention for adults is at least as important. For those of us who live in the North and West, keep track of how many chimney or space heater fires you go to this winter and see if you believe that adult education is of secondary importance. And, if they won't listen to us, they ought to be made to listen (i.e., legislation). Remember your history: when Peter Stuyvesant first organized fire protection for New Amsterdam, it was actually a crime to have an unsafe chimney in your home. Plus, people have a tendency to forget--after all, what fire prevention they learned as kids is twenty or thirty years old before they may hear it again. As a case in point, we did a month-long series of fire prevention presentations at our local library last month. I had a lot of parents saying things to me like "I forgot about that," or "I didn't know that!" As a result, we did some retooling for the remaining presentations, making available material for the kids, and literature for the adults that dovetailed with what their children were learning. Will it work? It'll work better than nothing. But whoever posted that some people will still do what they're going to do is unfortunately correct. After all, as a firefighter I have great faith in the stupidity of some people :)
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