This year, fire and life safety educators in departments across America will have a powerful ally going into Fire Safety Month. The nonprofit Home Safety Council’s Expert Network (www.homesafetycouncil.org/expertnetwork) is offering valuable teaching materials that include the popular elementary school audience, but also reach beyond it to deliver lifesaving Fire Safety Month messages to hard to reach populations such as adults with low level English reading skills. Best of all: many of these materials are offered free of charge, save for a modest shipping and handling fee.
From brochures to illustrated posters to video instruction and presenter guidance, the Expert Network is providing a wide range of high quality home fire safety educational materials at no cost to U.S. fire department educators who join the Expert Network. Here are some of the fire safety materials being made available:
All-Ways Fire Safe at Home Toolbox
Print and DVD materials to teach fire safety to preschool, elementary and middle school students as well as older adults
Home Safety Literacy Project Kit
Highly illustrated print and DVD materials designed to reach adults learning to read English
Be Safe and Sound: Home Fire Safety
Brochure (in English and Spanish)
A Burning Issue: Is Your Family Safe?
DVD and VHS (in English and Spanish)
“When we recently surveyed fire chiefs to benchmark the state of fire and life safety education in America, the resounding message was that our educators need more support, and more quality materials that they can afford for use in their community,” says HSC president Meri-K Appy. “The Expert Network is helping to fill that need.”
More than 5,200 safety advocates have joined the Expert Network, which is an online resource specifically created to serve fire and life safety educators. New members receive valuable materials mailed in a welcome kit. Occasionally, HSC’s partnerships make it possible to provide additional free materials to members through the mail at the cost of shipping and handling only. The Expert Network Webinar Series offers free online training that highlights best practices in safety education and features national experts.
In honor of Fire Safety Month, the Home Safety Council is offering limited quantities of materials with important home fire safety messages, at no cost to members, through October 31 and while supplies last. Shipping and handling charges start at $7.50 for 1-3 items. Full details are available online.
In addition, the Expert Network offers a wide range of downloadable and printable materials. These can be accessed online, and on demand, at no cost.
“We’re especially pleased to be able to provide educational materials that address the importance of installing home fire sprinklers,” Appy adds. “This is such a vital message for all age groups, but it’s one that is too often overlooked.”
Peggy Harrell with the Plano Fire Department in Plano, Texas, has made the Expert Network her first stop in planning Fire Safety Month this year. “I couldn’t achieve the level of outreach that we have here in Plano without the Expert Network,” she says. “But it’s not just having something free; it’s also having something we can be confident in using. When it comes from the Home Safety Council, we know it’s right.”
About Home Safety Council
The Home Safety Council (HSC) is the only national nonprofit organization solely dedicated to preventing home related injuries that result in nearly 20,000 deaths and 21 million medical visits on average each year. Through national programs, partnerships and the support of volunteers, HSC educates people of all ages to be safer in and around their homes. The Home Safety Council is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization located in Washington, DC.
