Over the past 30 years, the fire service has prided itself in becoming an all-hazards emergency service; many departments have even changed their names to reflect their expanded mission as fire, rescue, and emergency services departments. We have taken on duties such as haz-mat, emergency medical service, water rescue, and even bomb incident response, to name a few. As a result of these increased duties, community risk has been reduced.
To many, it seems we have provided the same fire prevention and education programs for years. We have attempted to become integrated into the schools similar to DARE or other programs, but with limited success. We have taught our personnel the concepts of the risk reduction triangle: education, engineering, and enforcement. Almost every department can point to successes in these areas that have been lifesaving. However, to continue to provide programs to an increasingly busy society, we must use more innovative methods to reach our target audiences.
When the Springfield (MO) Fire Department (SFD) started adding community rooms and public facilities at its new fire stations, it didn’t fully realize the opportunities that it would offer to educate the community in risk reduction. In 1997, we opened our first fire station with a 640-square-foot community room, dedicated to the surrounding neighborhood’s use. We wanted to give back something to the community that had so graciously approved the two stations, one a new location and one a relocation. It was hoped that these buildings would be truly public, available for the community to use.
Inititially, only one station had a community room, but both stations included a public walking track with exercise stations; within a year, playground equipment was added at both. Adults would be able to exercise on the track, and the children could enjoy the playground equipment, which added value to the neighborhoods in which they were built.
 1 Photos by Kevin Smart. |
When these enhancements were added, the Community Fire Station Initiative (CFSI) was born (photos 1, 2).
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Although they are allowed in any area by zoning ordinances, fire stations have not always been accepted with great enthusiasm in residential or business districts. Many neighborhoods fear the nuisance of the loud sirens and constant traffic at all hours. Business areas may suffer clogged traffic resulting from emergency vehicles exiting and entering the business districts. It only makes sense that fire stations should strive to add value to the areas in which they are located.
Locating fire stations in neighborhoods is not a new idea; however, making fire stations true public facilities open to the public is not an idea that the fire service easily accepts. It may take a change in the department’s culture to accept the idea of the public’s visiting our facilities regularly. When the SFD began to throw open the fire station doors to the public, this deviated from the idea that the fire station was a secured building. Like most changes, not everyone readily embraced the concept.
The CFSI began slowly with only a very few community groups using the one community room available. Slowly, people began to use the walking track, since they observed firefighters using it for physical fitness. In 1998, the SFD became aware that the city was going to remove playground equipment from a recreational area at a city-owned water supply site being donated as a veterans’ facility. The SFD obtained the equipment at a greatly reduced rate; in cooperation with the Springfield Firefighters’ Association, it moved the equipment to three separate stations. The SFD also applied for a grant from the Missouri Department of Resources to obtain ground tire material to place around the equipment at one of the stations. This would offer teachers an opportunity to give the children a lesson on the use of recycled materials. With the addition to each facility, their use increased.
As the public used these resources more and more, more opportunities to present risk reduction programs arose. In 2001 and 2002, three fire stations were relocated to upgrade older inadequate stations and to distribute department resources more efficiently. Community rooms were included with all three new stations; two included walking tracks. In considering the bond issues presented to finance these projects, the voters saw the public-use facilities as an added value, which was a significant factor in getting the initiatives passed.
Observers noted that after opening, the new stations’ public facilities experienced an increase in use by diverse groups of citizens. Neighborhood associations now receive priority in room scheduling to maintain community cohesiveness. The community rooms have been used for children’s birthday parties, free yoga and meditation classes, substance-abuse support group meetings, special court hearings, student study sessions, and election polling sites. With the popularity of these facilities, rules and regulations for their use were implemented. For example, solicitation and selling are not allowed in the city-owned facilities.
With the increased use of the community rooms, walking tracks, and playground equipment, requests for station tours and equipment demonstrations also increased. Families using the exercise facilities and playground equipment began spontaneously requesting tours. Crew members accommodated the requests, seeing them as an opportunity to teach the groups about smoke alarms, exit drills in the home, and other risk-reduction programs. Often, this occurred outside fire crews’ “normal” working hours.
SFD pursued additional opportunities for using the stations, offering drive-through flu shot clinics in cooperation with the Springfield-Greene County Health Department. With the Traffic Safety Alliance, SFD scheduled child safety seat inspections. Working with police, 9-1-1, and ambulance providers, the department also conducted a safety fair, coordinated by a local radio consortium.
Slowly, a program has developed that makes all 11 fire stations community resources. Now, the public sees the fire station as a place where they can go and receive a number of emergency and nonemergency public services. Recently, with the implementation of a new station-alerting system, Community Area Response Emergency (C.A.R.E) phones were added outside all stations. Using these phones, individuals can alert station crews inside of emergency situations. The phones set off an alert inside the station; if the crew is out of the station, the call is routed directly to the Emergency Communications Department so emergency services can be dispatched immediately.
Although it is obvious that the CFSI has been a great benefit to the community, the SFD has also received many direct and indirect benefits from the program, the greatest of which is an added opportunity to provide the risk reduction programs at the station. Because these programs usually occur outside normal work hours, station captains have a greater latitude in setting their daily work schedule. The facilities have built a great deal of trust between the community and the firefighters. Additionally, though the community has priority in the use of the facilities, the SFD and the Springfield Police Department also use the facilities for special meetings such as the Civilian Police Academy and other community-based programs. The walking tracks have had a direct positive effect on the department members’ physical fitness; personnel are much more likely to participate in exercise at stations that have these facilities.
However, there have been hurdles to overcome, such as creating usage guidelines, room scheduling, and cleaning. An administrative staff member provides usage guidelines for interested parties, schedules the community rooms, and sends the station crew a list of who is scheduled to use the community room and when. The crew is responsible for regularly cleaning the rooms; an additional cleaning deposit is required for private events at which food is served.
Operations crews now regularly provide risk-reduction programs to facility users and enjoy the interaction with the public. They go out of their way to get the message across; applications for free smoke detectors and public education materials are placed in the community rooms for the groups using them. When a residential fire occurs in the neighborhood, firefighters canvass the neighborhood to determine the presence of working smoke alarms. In 2004, crews installed 773 smoke alarms and replaced 262 batteries for free. A partnership with several businesses enabled the SFD to conduct this program at very little cost.
In the first six months of 2003, more than 325 community groups used the community rooms; the SFD used them 97 times. The fitness equipment and playground equipment are used virtually every day. It is our responsibility to take the initiative to identify and use the opportunities available to enhance the safety of our community. The SFD Mission Statement reads, “We are committed to work with the people of the community to provide and maintain a safe environment for the community, its visitors, and our employees …. We will achieve this through … an innovative approach in meeting the needs of our employees and the citizens of our community.”
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Finding a different avenue for presenting our fire safety message has benefited the community and the SFD, but there is still a great need to change the culture of the fire service. We are still responsible for teaching the public that it has a personal responsibility to reduce the risk of fire. We must be willing to step out of our comfort zones to do it. ■
■ DAN WHISLER is chief of the Springfield (MO) Fire Department, where he has been a member for 26 years. He has served as an adjunct instructor in the fire science program of the Ozarks Technical Community College and as a certified fire instructor II. He is a graduate of the National Fire Academy Executive Fire Officer program.
