Editor’s note: Jan. 19–25, 2026, marks the 7th annual CRR Week campaign. The 2026 CRR Week theme, Emergency Response, shines a spotlight on how fire departments’ response efforts are a vital part of Community Risk Reduction. This year’s toolkit emphasizes emergency response strategies that reduce risk, save lives and strengthen community safety. Learn more at the CRR Week resource center.
By Wendy Giannini-King
Community Risk Reduction Week was born from a simple discussion about fire service leaders during a conference coffee break and has since grown into a national movement. Here’s what you need to know about CRR Week and how to make the greatest impact on your community.
What is CRR Week?
CRR Week is a nationwide grassroots effort led by fire service professionals for fire service professionals. Because the week is fire service-facing, departments across the country are encouraged to spotlight their CRR efforts, share success stories, and demonstrate how CRR strengthens the fire service and the communities we protect. Fire service leaders and fire departments are encouraged to learn from one another and seek new strategies to improve the quality of life for both firefighters and the public. The week kicks off on Martin Luther King Jr.’s Day of Service — the third Monday of January — to motivate departments to get out into the community and turn risk reduction ideas into action.
How does CRR Week connect to a national strategy?
Vision 20/20 held its first meeting in 2008, bringing together hundreds experts from across the nation to discuss the gaps in fire prevention. This landmark meeting resulted in identifying five strategies that needed to be addressed to help fill the gaps in fire prevention. CRR Week is focused on addressing Strategy 1: advocacy. Advocating for fire prevention is difficult when fire chiefs must deal with competing priorities, both within a fire department and within their municipality. This strategy focuses on helping to develop tools and information that can be used when advocating for more resources to devote to fire prevention.
Why does CRR Week matter?
CRR Week’s intent is to raise awareness, inspire action and empower every fire department — regardless of size or location — to use CRR concepts in everyday service delivery. When prevention and data guide our decisions, the entire community benefits.
Who can participate in CRR Week?
Anyone can take part! Any fire department or community, big or small. Rural or metro. Paid or volunteer. Community Risk Reduction is something that applies to any community, and is something that any community can undertake.
How can I make the most of CRR Week?
It’s all about taking meaningful action.
1. Take “CRR Essentials”
Encourage every member of your department to complete the free CRR Essentials online course through IFSTA Resource One. Take the class here.
2. Delve into community demographics
Learn all you can about the people in your territory. There are many free online resources that can support this mission:
- Vision 20/20 discovery Data Hub
- American Community Survey Data
- CDC Social Vulnerability Index – Place and Health
3. Hit the spreadsheets
Look at your data. Identify through data and discussion the risks in your response area and where they are located. Vision 20/20 offers a data course that focuses on three learning objectives:
- Organize a variety of data elements and their relationships into meaningful segments related to your organization and community.
- Apply the fundamentals of data analysis such as advanced Excel functions, pivot tables, RMS, and practical statistics to build components of your Community Risk Assessment.
- Demonstrate the ability to communicate data insights effectively to stakeholders using data storytelling and visualizations.
Learn more about the Data Collection & Analysis (DCA) Training Courses.
Join CRR Week
Get involved! Check out the national supporters and join the growing network of CRR champions. And share your department’s patch at info@crrweek.org. See previously shared patches here.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Wendy Giannini-King is the Wilmington (N.C.) Fire Department CRR coordinator and 2026 CRR executive team lead.
