A COMMUNITY OUTREACH PROGRAM
(Photos by author.)
The year 1952 was a significant milestone in the history of the Philadelphia Fire Department: The Philadelphia Home Rule Charter came into being, the old Bureau of Fire became the Philadelphia Fire Department, and the department’s Fire Prevention Division was born. Civilian education and public relations were the division’s prime objectives, and firefighters took their educational programs into the public and parochial schools. Quiz games such as ‘Play It Safe in the 48,” “Presidents Quiz,” and “Beat the Hazards” introduced and reinforced the message of fire prevention to children, and fire safety tips were taught along with geography and history.
The Philadelphia Fire Department’s educational programs have won recognition and acclaim through the years. Its awards have included 10 George Washington Honor Medals from the Freedoms Foundation of Valley Forge and numerous annual citations from the National Fire Protection Association.
Many of these programs still exist. The Junior Fire Marshals program, subsidized by Sears, Roebuck and Co., teaches school-age children fire safety. Various schools compete for excelence in fire prevention activities. Awards are given by the fire commissioner at an annual luncheon. The Fire Prevention Division also presents programs at hospitals, nursing homes, businesses, and high-rise buildings.
INVOLVING ALL FIREFIGHTERS
The Fire Prevention Division alone cannot physically deal with all the fire prevention problems that arise in a city of Philadelphia’s size. Recognizing this problem, Fire Commissioner Roger M. Ulshafer instituted during the latter half of 1989 the “Community Outreach Operational Procedure,” a fire prevention/fire home safety program that delegates to field firefighters a significant share of the responsibility for establishing viable community educational programs. We now have 93 fire companies and approximately 2,500 ambassadors of fire prevention/fire home safety spreading the message throughout our community, and the fire station has become a more visible and vital element to the residents of the neighborhoods they serve.
The decentralization of the educational function makes the fire companies more aware of the specific problems in their neighborhoods. Station captains have all the resources of the department available to them to assist with the design of the programs. Innovation and creativity are encouraged.
Many productive ideas, such as the following, have come out of the program:
- Attending police community workshops to discuss pertinent fire safety issues.
- Establishing programs at Get-Set preschools, day care centers, and nursery schools.
- Publishing in neighborhood newspapers fire prevention articles written in English and Spanish by members of local companies.
- Distributing fire prevention literature at area shopping centers on weekends.
- Coordinating fire education programs with area hospitals so that blood pressure and cholesterol screenings can lie conducted al local fire stations.
- Displaying fire prevention/safety messages on outdoor marquees or signs of businesses in the district.
- Printing fire prevention/safety messages on the pay stubs, advertisements, and shopping bags of participating local businesses.
- Presenting programs at all houses of worship in the neighborhood.
- “Adopting” elementary schools in the respective local districts and participating in their programs, such as Career Day.
- Becoming involved with local hospitals —paying a Christmas visit, for example.
- Identifying homes that need smoke detectors and, in conjunction with the Eire Prevention Division, purchasing and installing them.
- Following up on a periodic basis to ensure that smoke detectors are operational. Replacement batteries— available through the Fire Prevention Division and donated by battery manufacturers and community organizations and businesses—are supplied to local fire companies.
Our program has been successful. During 1990, for example, 68 people perished in Philadelphia fires, while 103 died in city fires in 1989. This is, in fact, the lowest number of fire deaths in Philadelphia in the past .30 years. We credit the community outreach program with this drop in fatalities.
