BY ROBERT MORAN
Over the past few years, fire departments have become intimately involved in the communities they serve. Developing successful community relationships is now a top priority for fire service leaders. Departments have developed and successfully established programs ranging from the simple “Good Morning Wake-Up Calls” in which dispatch centers check in on elderly or disabled residents to the all-encompassing Risk Watch® Program.
The Englewood (NJ) Fire Department developed a unique and innovative program to reach our residents that was inspired by the popular bookmobile program: We developed a way to deliver fire prevention education to all parts of our community using a rehabilitated school bus.
 Photo courtesy of the Englewood (NJ) Fire Department. |
A local school bus company donated a used 18-passenger, handicapped-accessible bus to our department. Subsequently, we used the bus for various duties including transporting firefighters to various local training sessions.
Early this year, the department decided the bus could serve to give members an innovative mobile method to educate residents on home fire safety and provide free smoke detectors from various central locations in the city.
The program’s main emphasis is to build a trusting and significant relationship with community residents directly in their neighborhoods. We feel it is important for department members to meet and interact with residents in a relaxed environment. How better to accomplish this than by bringing vital fire education directly to the front door? The bus would also serve as a firefighter rehabilitation unit at multiple-alarm scenes and in extreme weather conditions.
We painted the bus a bright fire truck red, and a local sign company added appropriate lettering and graphics. Department members participated in renovating the bus interior over the next few months. Our plan is to construct several different fire prevention displays for the bus interior; we hope these exhibits will enhance our goal of delivering an informative and dynamic home fire safety program.
While the bus project was developing, a local philanthropic agency that aids firefighting and law enforcement personnel, the Bergen County 200 Club, donated $7,500 for the purchase of a remote-controlled, robotic fire engine/fire dog to the department. The Englewood Fire Department will make the robot available to municipalities in Bergen County. This will allow the department to fully integrate the robot into the Visit the Neighborhoods Program. The robot’s successful debut created a great deal of interest at several city celebrations this past summer, and it will be a great asset to our arsenal of educational tools.
Our Visit the Neighborhoods Program began this past September. We realized that this project would garner a large amount of positive attention for our department and improve our marketability in the community. We invited local media and city officials to the press conference at which we introduced our program to the community. Department leaders recognize that our organization needs to be proactive in creating a high-quality public image. All departments should be working hard to improve their standing in the community. Even if not on the scale of this project, being active and available to your residents provides immeasurable benefits.
We eagerly look forward to enhancing our community image and delivering vital, life-saving education to our residents.
ROBERT MORAN, a 23-year veteran of the fire service, is chief of the Englewood (NJ) Fire Department and a member and former chief of the Leonia (NJ) Volunteer Fire Department, where he serves as the borough’s fire official. He is state certified Level II fire instructor, fire official, hazardous materials specialist, and arson investigator. He is a member of the Fire Department Instructors Conference advisory board, the Bergen County Prosecutors Office Arson Task Force, the Bergen County Fire Academy Advisory Board, and the New Jersey Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 1. He has a bachelor’s degree in fire science.
