FIRE PREVENTION WEEK: STANLEY`S FIRE SAFETY
BY KEVIN J. ERICKSON
For Fire Prevention Week 1998, the Henrietta Fire District in West Henrietta, New York, wanted to spread fire safety messages not only to elementary school students but to their parents and siblings. Members designed a magnetic message board based on the district`s Web site (which features Stanley the Fire DogTM, who guides visitors through a series of fire safety lessons). Since January 1, 1998, the Web site has had more than 280,000 hits.
Lessons offered on the message board include “Calling 911,” “Stop, Drop, and Roll,” “Get Out and Stay Out,” and “The Great Escape.” The board (including a pen) displays short fire safety messages and a message writing area on one side, and more detailed fire prevention information on the other (see photos). After a program of fire safety lessons and demonstrations, members distributed the magnetic boards to more than 3,000 elementary school students.
“Calling 911” explains the 911 system in terms children can understand. It defines emergency and instructs children to call 911 when one occurs. It prepares children for the questions an operator might ask and provides a space for children to write their name, address, and phone number for future reference.
“Stop, Drop, and Roll” teaches children how to perform this age-old procedure if their clothes should catch fire.
“Get Out and Stay Out” teaches children not to delay their escape to rescue their pets or get other belongings.
“The Great Escape” instructs children on how to perform Operation E.D.I.T.H (Exit Drills In The Home). It`s broken down into three easy steps: Planning, the Family Meeting, and Fire Drills in the Home.
“Stanley” tells the true story of the abandonment and adoption of Stanley as a puppy and his dedication to fire prevention as Stanley the Fire DogTM. Stationed in Henrietta Fire Station #4 with career firefighters, Stanley has had so much media exposure almost every child in town knows who he is, and many have visited him there. He has even been seen on television in Australia.
In creating the message board, illustrations of Stanley the Fire DogTM were produced using Microsoft Image ComposerT and Adobe PhotoshopT plug-ins. Digital photos of Stanley were taken and modified to appear as black-and-gray sketches. The three-dimensional text was designed using Corel WordPerfect and Image Composer. Using Corel WordPerfect 8.0 and the News-letter Perfect ExpertT, the board was laid out using text from the Web site. The board was exported to Adobe Acrobat PDF (portable document format). For the preproduction proof, the PDF had to be imported into Adobe Illustrator and saved in that format to be sent to the printer. Additional design details and production information are available on request.
To use the “Stanley the Fire DogTM” theme, fire departments must request permission in writing from the Henrietta Professional Firefighters and Dispatchers Association and the Henrietta Fire District.
The following lessons were learned:
Use any colors desired in designing the board, and reduce the number of colors to an acceptable level. Adding colors was very difficult, and we had to start over from the beginning to get the board to look right.
Design the board well in advance of the time it is needed. We received the boards three days before Fire Prevention Week because of printing delays.
Discuss with the printer the electronic format early in the design process. We had problems when the printer wanted the preproduction electronic proof in Macintosh format and we had IBM-compatible computers.
Order extra pens. We lost some pens because the adhesive holding them on the board did not hold. Fortunately, we had included extra pens in our order. n
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n KEVIN J. ERICKSON is a firefighter with the Henrietta Fire District in West Henrietta, New York.
