The Institution of Fire Engineers-USA Branch’s Vision 20/20 project has released two reports that looked into the attitudes towards fire prevention by front-line firefighters, officers, and fire prevention managers. These reports, Line Fire Fighter Attitudes Towards Fire Prevention and National Survey of Fire Prevention Managers Attitudes Towards Fire Prevention Materials and Home Safety Visits, were based on national, voluntary surveys and provide insights into some of the challenges that need to be overcome to help expand the reach of fire prevention programs to the public. While the surveys were not randomized, they represented a broad geographic spread and the responses came from fire departments of all sizes as well as career, call, and volunteer.
Some of the findings include:
- Key reasons for conducting home safety visits include saving lives, providing more value to the community, firefighter safety, and public relations.
- Some of the concerns include liability, government intrusion into the home, lack of training for conducting these visits and conflict with training and response needs.
- There were concerns voiced over the presently available free fire prevention materials and some of the reasons given for not using them included misperception over the costs (many of which are free); inability to customize with the department’s own logo and information; not relevant to the community’s specific needs or demographics; and too much content covered in one document.
Copies of Line Fire Fighter Attitudes Towards Fire Prevention and National Survey of Fire Prevention Managers Attitudes Towards Fire Prevention Materials and Home Safety Visits, prepared for Vision 20/20 by TriData under an Assistance to Fire Fighters Fire Prevention and Safety Grant, can be downloaded from Vision 20/20 at www.strategicfire.org.
