Fire Prevention
What you need to know about fire safety for active construction sites
It’s somewhat “newsworthy” when a week goes by that we don’t see or hear about a significant fire in a building under construction, renovation, or demolition. That’s because such fire incidents take place more often than most of us realize. In recent months, there have been fires in commercial buildings being renovated in Idaho, in a former Sony building in New Jersey being demolished and in multiple apartment buildings under construction across the U.S., including high profile incidents in Las Vegas and Texas.
Fire Safety Messages: What Are You Selling?
My fire service colleague Tanya Bettridge is the Captain for Public Education at Mississauga (ON) Fire and Emergency Services. But…
Is your community “inoculated” against preventable fires?
Well, is it? Are you and your family inoculated against preventable fires? You may think that it’s enough that you…
To Install, Or Not To Install
By: Tanya Bettridge, Guest Blogger, Public Educator The number of smoke/CO alarms, that are either given away or outright installed by fire departments in communities across…
Jennifer Cooper is a fire and life safety mentor you need to know
ICYMI, here are Part I and Part II of this four-part series this week. Now if you’ve been following along,…
Tanya Bettridge is a Fire and Life Safety Educator You Should Know
ICYMI, here’s Part I of this four-part series this week. Now if you’ve read Part I, you know that the…
What is your department doing for National Fire Prevention Week?
DYK, it’s only 17 weeks until the beginning of National Fire Prevention Week 2019? Hard to believe, right? Seems like it was just…
Make 2019 the year you change your department’s fire safety education paradigm
This is not some “pipe dream” of mine. There is such a system and it’s been available for the better part of the last five years. It’s the Fire-ED Interactive System developed by my colleague Tracy Last. And if you don’t know Tracy and the Fire-ED Interactive System, then you don’t know fire and life safety education for the 21st century.
Change Your Clock, Change Your Battery, Get Out of Your House
Since 1966, most states have changed the clocks twice a year to save an hour of daylight. Love it or…
Changing Human Behavior to Prevent Fires
If we truly want to eradicate preventable fires, we must start by using language that clearly identifies the responsible party; it’s not the fire, it’s the person whose improper behavior created the conditions that enabled the fire to start.
Fire and Life Safety Education Needs Social Entrepreneurs
Social entrepreneurship is about starting local movements that grow exponentially to solve massive social problems. Fire deaths and accidents are preventable, and yet they claim far too many lives each year. In 2016 there were almost half a million burn injuries in the U.S. and almost three thousand fatalities due to preventable home fires. The fact that so many of these could be avoided with fire and life safety education is stunning. And a prime example of a “massive social problem” that lends itself to a social entrepreneurship solution.
Fire Departments and Transparency
More importantly, isn’t it time that they truly know how important it is for them to practice fire safety behaviors in their homes and businesses? Maybe then they’d have a greater appreciation for having working smoke detectors, complying with building and fire codes, and supporting residential sprinkler systems for new residential construction.