THE LEXINGTON (KY) DIVISION OF FIRE`S FIRE SAFETY HOUSE
BY MARK CHAPMAN
WHERE IT BEGAN
Vice-Mayor Teresa Isaac (who at that time was an Urban County council member) attended, in 1991, a workshop on innovative safety projects at the National League of Cities Convention in Washington, D.C. She saw a mobile fire safety house for the first time and was inspired. Isaac believes that “public safety is always the number one concern of elected public officials” and that “educating children about fire and safety is essential.”
When she returned, she called Joseph Famularo, who then was commissioner of public safety and today serves as the Commonwealth`s attorney, to ask whether he could build a mobile fire safety house here. Famularo, Fire Chief Gary McComas, and Isaac talked about the possibilities, and the Division of Fire`s Fire Safety House Project was born.
Isaac contacted communities in our region who were operating safety houses. The community of Blue Ash, Ohio, invited us to visit theirs. Isaac, Famularo, McComas, former Fire Marshal James Sallee, and Fire Marshal Ron O`Bryan (who was the assistant fire marshal then) went to Ohio, saw the house, and brought a set of plans home to Lexington. “Budget restrictions kept us from doing this before, even though some in the division had thought of it,” explained O`Bryan. Since Isaac`s interest in the project indicated upper level government support, plans progressed. Contractors, carpenters, electricians, and so forth within the Division of Fire were consulted relative to the plan`s feasibility.
The crew chiefs also traveled to Ohio to see the working model. They were eager to get started when they returned, but they needed the materials and equipment to make the magic happen here. From this point on, life for Lexington`s Division of Fire changed forever.
OVERCOMING THE FINANCIAL HURDLE
Neither the division`s budget nor the Urban County government`s general fund could afford to do the job right. The idea was good, personnel were available, and the plan was viable; but finances were a problem. O`Bryan, who knew about and believed in the project`s potential, rolled up his sleeves and set out to make things happen. “Suppression will always be necessary, but prevention costs less and preserves, rather than salvages, the lives and property we are sworn to protect,” O`Bryan explains. His view of prevention is broader than the traditional image. “Code enforcement without adequate education will ultimately fail. We can build the safest buildings out of the least combustible materials, put in sophisticated alarm systems and sprinkler them through and through; but if we don`t teach people how to prevent fires or get away from the ones that start, we`re still going to lose lives,” he adds. While the fire safety house is not an all-encompassing public education initiative, it is Lexington`s first step in that direction.
From this point, the project became a community effort. The Urban County government paid for the construction of the base trailer that would serve as the house`s foundation. Determined to gather support from private sources, O`Bryan prepared a portfolio detailing the project and began to make the rounds of likely sponsors.
First, he went to Wickes Lumber Company, where he talked with Manager Tim Foreman. Foreman looked at the portfolio while O`Bryan described his vision. Without hesitation, Foreman looked at O`Bryan and said, “I like it. You can have anything in the store.” Recovering from his “shock,” O`Bryan picked himself up, quickly accepted the offer, and went to McDonald`s of Lexington, Incorporated. There, he told Wendy Congleton about the project, gathered up his courage, and asked her if McDonald`s would help. It did.
Things began to snowball from there. The Fraternal Order of Fire Fighters, Bluegrass Chapter, contributed operating capital. Lexmark International, Incorporated, provided a smoke simulator and generator to power the unit.
THE END RESULT
The end result is a 40-foot-long, nine-foot-wide house on wheels that thrilled more than 12,000 Fayette County children in its first year of operation. Its two bedrooms accommodate 20 children at a time, teaching them about crawling low under smoke, smoke detectors, home fire escape planning, exit drills in the home, and so forth. Tours end with a fire drill using simulated smoke, activated detectors, and second exits from each bedroom. People with asthma or other respiratory ailments are asked to leave before the smoke is introduced into the rooms. All visitors meet outside at a special meeting place where a public educator teaches how and when to call 911 for help.
The house and its pull truck (a remodeled Ford Diesel ambulance) are assessed at $45,000. We presented the fire safety house at 18 public events and more than 450 classes–a total of 12,342 men, women, and children have been through it.
The monetary value of the house will remain essentially the same, but the “dividends” it is paying have far exceeded its financial value. Is this project a success? The answer is an unqualified “Yes” for the following reasons:
Many children are understanding, and acting on, their first real look at fire drills in the home. After touring the safety house, several children told their parents they needed two ways out of their bedrooms. Some parents called our Public Education Office for help with home fire safety and escape planning. This measure, though not statistically perfect, showed us children are taking real questions home and parents are motivated to answer them.
The program`s immediate effect on our firefighters is another measure of the project`s success. Imagine the pleasure a fire educator derives from watching one of the toughest line officers gently helping a laughing child down a ladder safely, sharing 20 children`s smiles, shaking hands, and giving high fives. These front-line fighters are being put in a position to bask in direct, positive feedback from the most honest, loving segment of society–our children. A bond has been formed between our firefighters and the children they helped teach; this is perhaps the best program for boosting our division`s morale introduced during the past decade.
The project has provided us with a vehicle for successfully approaching future educational projects. The fire service`s re-sistance to asking for private-sector involvement in our projects has been breached. Private foundations, willing businesses, and other agencies now can become partners with us for a safer Lexington. The result will be mutually beneficial. Rather than feeling that they are merely targets for enforcement initiatives, these organizations enjoy being approached in an informative and humane manner to participate in community-enhancing projects. We have found that those who have joined our effort usually are cooperative when it comes to complying with enforcement initiatives. As stronger partnerships are formed, we will be better able to attack our larger, specific fire problems as a community. Together, we can begin to make a difference for juvenile firesetters and their families; senior citizens wherever they may live; all of our children and–through them–their families; and so on. This fresh point of view helps us see a clearer, safer future.
As we move into the 21st century, more and more departments are finding this model of program design useful. Here is a true win-win situation. Government, the private sector, and service agencies are forming partnerships that are serving our customers` interests more efficiently. That makes the community a safer, more attractive place to live. Working together brings mutual resources and assets to bear on current and future threats and trends. As we learn to work together for change, we are redefining our roles as partners before tomorrow leaves us in its wake. n
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Photo above by Ralph Quillin; photo at right by Randy Smith.
MARK CHAPMAN works primarily on grants and program research and development in the Fire Prevention Bureau within the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government`s Division of Fire & Emergency Services in Lexington, Kentucky. He served on the fire line for eight years and has been a public educator for the past four years. In addition to working on the Fire Safety House program, he is one of the National Fire Protection Association`s 1994 Learn Not To Burn® Champions; president of the Kentucky Association of Fire and Lifesafety Educators, Incorporated (KAFLE); and an instructor in Advanced Topics in Public Education for Kentucky`s Annual State Fire School. His duties involve him in local, regional, and statewide public education initiatives.
The traditional image of the firefighter changes even as the face of the fire service in America is changing today. He no longer is the lone hero, pulling the saved child out from under a smoke-stained turnout coat. He often is not even a “he.” More often than not, today`s firefighter is making an emergency medical run, an inspection to ensure code compliance, or a presentation in schools and the workplace. Please don`t misread me: Suppression isn`t dead, and tradition is still very important to the life of the fire service. It`s just that people see us in a very different light than we in the fire service often see ourselves.
Today`s America is placing new de-mands on its fire departments. The scope of a fire department`s mission has greatly expanded, and resources have not kept up. Most departments affiliated with EMS know those calls dominate dispatch time and hours worked. New technologies and hazards require more education, training, and experience every day. Injury prevention is replacing burn prevention as the public education topic of choice. Two facts are clear: Our “customers” won`t let us relax into our more comfortable, traditional roles anymore and keep afloat in the sea of demand on our skiff of resources, and we must network, network, network.
Not all ideas for fire service programs need to come from within. Private industry, the media, business, and other government agencies can be sources of very positive, ground-breaking projects. One such project recently fielded in Lexington, Kentucky, shows how beneficial this fresh outlook can be for everyone involved.
