CREATE A DEMAND FOR PREVENTION
Advocating for Increased Fire Prevention Will Benefit Your Community
Fire – A National Problem With a Local Face
Preventing future fires, and their related injuries, death and property damage will take educational efforts to increase awareness and change people’s habits. Increasing the use of proven engineering methods, such as fire detection and automatic suppression, holds great promise for increased safety.
Finally, enforcement is essential to ensure ongoing compliance with local safety requirements.
Use the Advocate for Fire Prevention video to help decision makers in your community understand the benefits from investing in prevention.
Read how fire sprinklers support Firefighter Life Safety Initiative 15 and your entire community.
>Image courtesy of United States Navy; photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Tucker M. Yates/Released
One of the best long-term examples of how fire prevention can work to save lives and property is the United States Navy Fire & Emergency Services’ multifaceted program. “This fire department has just about the best fire prevention program of any large department I know, and has the data evidence to demonstrate its success,” says Philip Schaenman, president of TriData division of System Planning Corporation, a research firm headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, who helped assess the Navy’s fire program over a five-year period. “The Navy fire service has done all aspects of prevention for its installations in the United States that we encourage the civilian fire service to do. They have virtually 100 percent outreach to employees and residents with fire safety education delivered through multiple channels. They have extensive, well managed fire inspections. They sprinkler almost everything. They monitor “hot works,” and generally instill fire safety as a core value. They’ve done all the right things and they have a great record of keeping hundreds of thousands of people fire safe on Navy bases.”
You are keenly aware of the fire problem in your community and how prevention efforts can benefit the safety of those you protect. The public and those in control of funding need to understand the fire problem and the benefits of investing in prevention. This is your opportunity to inform them and persuade them to invest in prevention – for the benefit of your community. Present the facts about the impact of fire on your community. National data show the big picture. More compelling is positioning this data to show the picture of how fire costs lives, dollars and businesses in your community.