The fire service is made up of problem solvers. We get a call, we respond, we mitigate a problem, and we return to quarters. There are some calls that will take a more calculated approach and may take hours or even days to resolve, but those calls come less frequently. Reaching out to the community to effect behavioral change is something that takes a lot of planning, coordination, and repetition. Seeing measurable change can take months or even years. Unfortunately, many departments have abandoned the initiative and have moved on to the next problem that they have identified.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau-2010 American Community Survey, the estimated population of foreign-born residents (i.e., not a U.S. citizen at birth) is roughly 40 million, representing 13 percent of the total U.S. population, measurable in every state, ranging from just over one percent in West Virginia to 27 percent in California. According to the report, one in four residents in California and one in five residents in New York and New Jersey were identified as foreign born.1
For any public education outreach to be successful, no matter the topic or target audience, there are several things that have to happen. You need to identify the problem and target audience, gather stakeholders, develop a long-range plan and goals, and create a funding and sustainability plan.
Identify the Problem and Target Audience
Identifying the fire problem and an outreach idea involves looking at anecdotal or actual hard data obtained by call reports on a trending fire problem that you see in a targeted area or throughout your community. This could be anything from a higher number of cooking fires in senior complexes to smoking fires on apartment balconies, an uptick in false alarm calls because of maintenance issues in commercial fire alarm systems, or any other trend you see increasing in your calls for service.
If you base your need for a program on anecdotal evidence, you must support your program with actual run report numbers so that you have an ability to show change over time. After you identify the area of the city and the fire problem you will address, do some demographic research to see who lives in that area. You need to understand who is affected by the fire problem before you can assess ways to “solve” the fire problem. An essential key to success of a program is the strength of the baseline data gathered. It must be evaluated to build a strong foundation for measuring any success of the program.
Make all of this happen before you come up with your ideas on how to solve the identified fire problem. This is different from how the fire service normally operates. Sometimes, our public education efforts exist in a “ready, shoot, aim” mentality. We identify a problem; develop or implement an existing blanket, one-size-fits-all program; and then move along, glancing over our shoulder, thinking about all the things we would have done differently to make it more successful. (Shrug … on to the next project.) We have to stop solving the problem first and assuming we have the answer to the problem before identifying the target audience and understanding its needs; this is especially true if we are targeting communities with high immigrant populations.
Gather Stakeholders
Once you have identified the area of your community with which you would like to work, you need to gather the stakeholders. Often, we believe that if it’s a fire problem, it’s our problem to solve. This couldn’t be further from the truth. This is a community problem, and it affects the residents, community leaders, business owners, the firefighters who respond to the calls, and many more people. Identifying and gathering those stakeholders are the next steps in creating a successful program.
Focusing on identifying the characteristics and needs of the immigrant community is an important early step as you develop your outreach. Take the time to visit local gathering spots like community centers or ethnic grocery stores.
Go and speak to the community liaisons to the city or school districts to gain more insight. Meet with the community leaders and ask for their assistance in developing your programs. You need to understand their cultures and practices before you can develop a program that specifically targets behavior change. Understanding the purpose of the behavior is key to coming up with safer alternatives, if necessary.
When you have gathered this group of community members, community leaders, local business owners, firefighters, and so on, take the time to ask about-and listen to-their concerns about the trends you’ve identified. Learn about how they feel the impact in their communities rather than be quick to tell them how you intend to fix their problem. This discussion could be the catalyst for a strong relationship between the fire department and the community and could result in many more ideas and solutions than you could have come up with on your own.
When reaching out to diverse community groups, remember that you are the newcomer. You are trying to build a relationship with a new group and help the group understand how the message will help them live a safe life. Developing a good working relationship takes time and trust.
Develop a Long-Range Plan and Goals
The varying perspectives of those from which you received input should help guide you to a three- to five-year plan. Think about your plan in terms of being a news headline in five years, such as “Area Sees a 40-Percent Reduction in Cooking-Related Fires.”
Next, identify active goals or outreach programs that you intend to implement to meet this long-range plan. Given the cooking fires example, attend local community meetings to provide cooking classes and education on safer cooking practices, post informational flyers at the local grocery store (near the cooking oil section) on reducing the chances of grease-related cooking fires, and have a monthly community open house at the fire station to discuss the progress being made in the community.
Then, celebrate your successes by identifying benchmark goals to identify gains in the program. Celebrating the successes along the way will help sustain buy-in for the program and will bring more people onboard when they see your commitment to their community.
On the subject of flyers, there are pros and cons when using printed materials. When designed properly, they work great in sending a consistent message. However, occasionally, educators have a tendency to put all of the information they can think of onto one flyer, making it difficult to read because of the sheer volume of words. Some fire departments spend the extra budget money to translate the flyers into the languages spoken in the various communities. However, there are pitfalls to this. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, there are 325 languages spoken in U.S. homes. Never assume that the immigrant population is literate in their native language. Be aware that the materials are often translated into one of many dialects spoken in a given language.
One of the primary problems with directly translating materials is that languages have a different set of words from which to draw; choosing the wrong synonym during translation could create difficulty in achieving the same conceptual meaning, causing confusion or misdirection. Not taking into account the cultural meaning of words or phrases could also create difficulties deciphering the intended meaning. In the fire service, we tend to tell people what not to do rather than what to safely do; the negative message doesn’t always translate well, so carefully consider the wording.
Many immigrants do not speak English as a primary or even secondary language, so it is difficult to develop a flyer relying on verbally communicating with them. One option is to use pictures or drawings with short captions. However, seek assistance in reviewing the pictures to make sure they follow along with the people’s cultural norms.
This is why understanding the needs of the community and the ways they gather their information is so important. We need to remember that how we learn may not be the best way to reach out to everyone else.
Create a Funding and Sustainability Plan
Programs designed to effect behavioral change need to be carried out over multiple years, which is why this is a crucial step in creating a successful program. Many fire service programs are funded by one- or two-year grant programs or they are hastily put together at the end of a fiscal year when there is money left in the budget. You need a plan to keep the program going before you begin. Hoping for another grant to continue where you left off or hoping to knock on doors after the fact is not a fiscally sound approach. The sense of community is very important in immigrant cultures; showing that you’re committed to the well-being of their community for more than just a fiscal cycle is an essential component in the success of the program. Vision 20/20 (strategicfire.org) is a great reference for materials from fire departments in the United States and Canada that have implemented successful fire prevention programs in their communities.]
I don’t believe in reinventing the wheel. However, remember that what worked in one area of one neighborhood cannot be implemented in your area without the work mentioned above. One-size-fits-all blanket programs and other programs successful elsewhere are not likely to cater to the needs of YOUR community. Take time to get to know personally the community you serve and make the programs fit for them. The time you spend on the front end will pay volumes in the fire safety and education of your community.
REFERENCE
1. https://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/acs-19.pdf.
BECKI WHITE is an assistant chief of training and prevention with the Eden Prairie (MN) Fire Department. She has a master’s degree in education and is enrolled in the National Fire Academy Executive Fire Officer Program. White writes articles and speaks nationally on fire prevention and fire instruction-related topics. She is on the advisory board for Fire Engineering and FireRescue magazines and FDIC International.
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