FIRE PREVENTION OUTREACH PROGRAMS
ZEROING FIRE DEATHS IN THE NEXT MILLENNIUM
BY BERNARD J. MACK, JR.
While preparing a research report for the “Strategic Analysis of Community Risk Reduction” segment of the National Fire Academy`s Executive Fire Officer Program, my attention became focused on the number of civilians dying in fires in one- and two-family structures in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and on what might be done to save more of these lives.
Perplexing to me was the fact that fire fatalities in Philadelphia rose during a period when population dropped: Over the 40-year period from 1953 to 1992, Philadelphia`s population dropped 23 percent (from 2,057,787 to 1,585,000), yet fire deaths increased about 8.2 percent. Nearly 100 people were dying in fires in Philadelphia annually–most of them in single-family residential occupancies. My aim was to reduce that number. Proactive steps were needed. We had to approach the community by instituting home inspections and educating residents.
MISSION STATEMENT
I reviewed the mission statement for the Philadelphia Fire Department, attempting to discover where we were “missing the mark.” The following two objectives of the mission statement stood out:
1. To reduce the loss of life and damage to property from fire by applying proactive inspections and code enforcement.
2. To aggressively establish a comprehensive fire safety program designed to meet the diversified needs of the entire community.
I sought answers to the following questions:
Have we alerted the community to the fact that it is imperative that they have early warning devices, such as smoke detectors?
Have we succeeded in educating the community of the importance of having properly maintained and working smoke detectors?
. Have we overcome the indifference and ignorance people once had regarding fire and its devastating effects?
Are citizens prepared to take the next step involved in increasing their survival rate–are they willing to allow the emergency service provider into their homes to perform home safety checks to point out possible fire hazards?
SURVEY
In an attempt to get these answers, I incorporated 11 questions pertaining to those areas into a questionnaire (see box on page 108). More than 1,500 questionnaires were distributed, and nearly 700 completed forms were returned.
Each of the city`s 59 engine companies was given five forms, which the commanding officers were to have completed by households in their geographical areas. Employees of a small fire protection business, several health-care institutions, and a health-care provider facility within the city also participated in the survey.
RESULTS
Among the data obtained from survey respondents were the following:
Slightly more than 96 percent of respondents reported having at least one smoke detector in their property (home); an overwhelming majority reported having from two to more than five detectors. Detector batteries were checked annually by about 69 percent of respondents and semiannually by approximately 24 percent. A little over eight percent said they never replace the battery.
Slightly more than eight percent said they had experienced some kind of fire in their lives, and about 98 percent said they did not believe that fires happen only to others.
More than 82 percent said they would want a home safety check if it were offered by the Philadelphia Fire Department.
RECOMMENDATIONS
By the raw numbers gathered from this survey, I determined that the community was ready for the next step: home inspections for fire hazards. Through home inspections, homeowners can be made aware of and eliminate fire hazards and decrease the likelihood that a fire will occur in their homes. The home inspections also would establish a more direct relationship between fire personnel and the community. The fire department would be more visible and project the image that its members are available to help and serve.
While we would like to see all fire deaths eliminated, a realistic goal of reducing fatalities by 50 percent over a four-year period was set. I recommended that Philadelphia institute a home inspection program for single-occupancy dwellings and suggested that the city be divided into 12 geographic sections and broken down from the areas with the highest number of fire deaths in residential occupancies to those with the lowest. The three areas with the highest number of lives lost would be targeted for the initial inspections.
Approximately one-quarter to one-third of the fire department`s companies would perform home inspections annually. In the past, all companies inspected commercial, industrial, and health-care facilities under the Block Inspection plan. The home inspections would take roughly three to four years to complete under this system. Rotating the home inspection program annually would ensure that no one section of the city would be skipped. While homes were being inspected in certain sections of the city, the established pattern of inspecting commercial, industrial, and health-care occupancies would continue in the remainder of the city.
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For the calendar year 1995, the Philadelphia Fire Department suspended its Block Inspection program targeting primarily commercial and industrial properties and instituted a program pinpointing individual homes–a Herculean task in a city with a population in excess of 1.5 million people.
The project was not without objections from several factions. One faction wanted all infractions reported through normal channels so that fines could be enforced. Another thought the inspection was an invasion of privacy, claiming that “a man`s home is his castle.” These individuals thought the government should not tell them how to live or under what conditions they should exist. Both factions seem to have forgotten that the driving force for the inspection program is to save the lives of individuals who might be lost to the devastating effects of fire.
At the present time, the Philadelphia Fire Department has returned to its annual Block Inspection program while the leaders of the department evaluate the results of last year`s home-inspection project. I believe the home inspection program will be reinstated. Rather than attempt to inspect every private home in each section of the city, the project will concentrate on target areas with the highest fire deaths rates from previous years.
Everyone within the Philadelphia Fire Department and the citizens should remember that one objective of the department`s mission statement is to take proactive steps to save lives. In the long term, I believe that home inspections will reduce deaths and injuries due to on-site fire hazards just as inspections of commercial occupancies have done. n
This article is based on the author`s research project prepared in November 1994 as a requirement for the “Strategic Analysis of Community Risk Reduction” segment of the National Fire Academy`s Executive Fire Officer Program.
References
1. Management Information System Report for 1951-1992 and “Philadelphia Fire Facts 1986-1992,” Fire Prevention Division.
BERNARD J. MACK, JR., a battalion chief and certified fire protection specialist, is a 23-year veteran of the Philadelphia (PA) Fire Department. He has a master`s degree in public safety from St. Joseph`s University, Pennsylvania, and is currently enrolled in the National Fire Academy`s Executive Fire Officer Program.
