The Cardinal Joint Fire District in Canfield, Ohio had a specific goal in mind when they applied for a Fire Prevention and Safety Grant in 2009. They wanted to educate as many members of their community as possible about what to do in the event of a fire. Three months after they accepted delivery of their BullEx Fire Safety Trailer, purchased with the funds awarded from that grant, they have taught their fire prevention program to more than 1100 residents, students and local businesses.

The incorporated district includes three fire departments; Cardinal Joint Fire Department, Green Township Fire Department and Austintown Township Fire Department. Each department is responsible for providing fire protection to their communities for a total of 75 square miles and 60,000 community members. Knowing that larger population numbers would be advantageous in their grant application, CJFD teamed up with Green and Austintown, who will jointly share the trailer. Their combined fire prevention public education training hours statistics also contributed to the success of their pursuit of the FP &S grant.

Cardinal Joint Fire District Deputy Chief Don Hutchison said that after a series of major structure fires that he believes could have been averted with the use of a fire extinguisher in the early stages, the district determined that there was room for improvement in their public fire prevention education program. CJFD researched and priced several fire safety trailers, but were most impressed with the realism of the BullEx trailer. Deputy Chief Hutchison said, “It’s a very realistic simulation of an actual structure fire.”

Inside the two-scenario trailer is a kitchen-fire scenario, in which the oven prop catches fire, spreads to a stove-top burner and to a nearby trash can. Interacting with the simulated flames, trainees must call 911, extinguish the digital fire with a laser training extinguisher and turn off the oven and stove to prevent re-ignition Fire is simulated with lights as non-toxic smoke and heat fill the room. The unit can be powered with an optional generator, or it can be hooked up to an electrical outlet. It has a portable widescreen TV monitor that shows four different angles from cameras inside the trailer. Also designed into their mobile fire prevention trailer is a simulated industrial fire scenario with paint locker, trash can and parts-washer props which interact with a simulated electrical fire.

Prior to the purchase of the fire safety trailer, the CJFD provided extinguisher training with a burn pan filled with cardboard. As Hutchison explained, “On a windy day, and we have a lot of inclement weather days in Canfield due to our proximity to Lake Erie, that type of live fire training is not only impractical, it’s unsafe.”

To date, they have brought the trailer to numerous community events including a county fair and a church festival, and have scheduled ongoing training at middle and high schools within their protective area on a regular basis. “We have the trailer scheduled at the local high schools every nine weeks and at the middle schools every six weeks. The students are more attentive during the training than I ever imagined because it’s so realistic,” said Hutchison. “Watching them learn how fast a fire can escalate and seeing them take appropriate safety measures, whether it be to use an extinguisher or call 911 and evacuate, is very gratifying.” He also discussed the results of the methodology used to measure the effectiveness of the fire prevention program, which is a short test given before and after the training, “Before going in, the majority of the trainees scored an average of 60% out of 100%. After going through the trailer, the scores increased dramatically to an average of 90%.”

The Fire Prevention and Safety Grant application period will be opening soon. Contact BullEx today for product specifications or to obtain resource information relevant to grant procurement.

Originally Posted in BullEx Fire Safety Blog at:

http://blog.bullexsafety.com/Fire-Safety-Training-Blog/bid/54448/Fi...