By Ed Comeau
Vision 20/20
Full coverage of Fire Prevention Week
 Photo Jamie Thompson (From left) Richard Taylor, Ozzie Mirkhah and Jim Crawford discuss Vision 20/20 during a session at FRI in Denver in August. |
Fires occur every day, killing and injuring people and destroying homes, business and communities.
Recognizing the importance of fire prevention and the need for more emphasis in the fire service and in communities, Vancouver, Wash., Fire Marshal Jim Crawford started bringing together like-minded people and brainstorming possible approaches that could be taken to address this need.
But he didn’t want to just produce another report, of which there have been many going back to the early 20th century about the value of fire prevention. Instead, he wanted one that would be the catalyst for action.
As the nation turns its attention to fire safety during national Fire Prevention Week, on Monday we released a landmark report, “Vision 20/20 National Strategies for Fire Loss Prevention.” The report is the culmination of more than a year’s work by fire safety experts from across the nation looking at where the gaps exist in developing and delivering comprehensive fire safety to our nation’s citizens.
Ideas and strategies
It all began with a series of informal meetings, starting with one in Orlando in 2006 during the NFPA Annual Meeting, where experts gathered and discussed a variety of ideas and strategies. This continued with phone calls, e-mails and a further meeting at the National Fire Academy. It eventually led to a Fire Prevention and Safety Grant being awarded to the Institution of Fire Engineers USA Branch.
A core group of people started working on developing the infrastructure for the project. Joining Crawford was Peg Carson, a well-known fire safety education expert, Bill Kehoe, treasurer for the IFE and with many years of fire suppression experience, and myself, a former chief fire investigator with the NFPA and a technical writer focusing on fire safety issues. This executive committee met and began to identify people who would comprise a larger group that would help guide the direction of the project. The steering committee is made up of more than 20 experts from across the nation representing diverse organizations that bring years of experience to the project.
More meetings and teleconferences were held to develop methodologies for gathering the information that was needed. The NFPA conducted an extensive literature review of past fire safety studies and reports to identify what had already been covered and accomplished so that Vision 20/20 could focus on the gaps and how to bridge them.
Realizing that it was absolutely vital to get as much input from as wide an audience as possible, the Internet was employed to reach out to fire safety professionals. Hosted by Firehouse.com, a webinar was held that involved more than 500 people, either listening in individually or by attending one of 13 satellite hosting facilities from Maryland to Washington state.
Crawford and Richard Taylor, a member of the steering committee (and with the Maine State Fire Marshal’s office) conducted an online PowerPoint presentation which gave the participants an overview of what had been determined to date and the possible directions. Each of the satellite locations then deliberated for two hours and came back online and presented their top three priorities.
Review results
These priorities were then compiled by the executive and steering Committees for the Vision 20/20 Forum to be held immediately preceding the 2008 Congressional Fire Services Annual Dinner. This helped facilitate 170 national experts coming together in Washington, DC for two days to review the results of the webinar and to refine these results.
The participants were selected by the steering committee with one major goal in mind -- diversity in representation. It was realized that for this process to be effective and the end result to be one that would work for as wide a group as possible that the people and organizations involved would have to also be from a wide spectrum. Along with the usual fire safety organizations, there were some of the non-traditional ones invited, too, such as Meals on Wheels, whose workers are in people’s homes every single day, so could be a valuable ally.
Over the course of two days, the participants were divided into five different groups where they rotated through several “stations” reviewing the material. At the end, everyone reconvened and the results were reviewed and compiled.
What made this process so significantly different from previous ones was the extent and diversity of collaborative involvement. This allowed for a wide range of input and ideas from unique perspectives, including an international one. A special presentation was given by fire officials from Australia and the United Kingdom, and the results of a study carried out under a federal grant looking at the fire prevention practices in other countries were also presented. In the UK, for example, the fire service is taking a more holistic approach to fire safety and partnering with various social agencies in an effort to get into people’s homes and evaluate their fire safety needs – and with incredible results. In some communities, they have seen a 50 percent reduction in fire deaths because of the strong emphasis on fire prevention.
The executive committee and steering committee compiled and published the final results in the report Vision 20/20 National Strategies for Fire Loss Prevention that came down to five specific strategies.
- Strategy 1: Increase advocacy for fire prevention
- Strategy 2: Conduct a national fire safety educational/social marketing campaign
- Strategy 3: Raise the importance of fire prevention within the fire service
- Strategy 4: Promote technology to enhance fire and life safety
- Strategy 5: Refine and improve the application of codes and standards that enhance public and fire fighter safety and preserve community assets.
At the forum, individuals volunteered to be a part of each strategy and a number of organizations have stepped forward to serve as lead facilitators, including the:
- Centers for Disease Control
- Home Safety Council
- Institution of Fire Engineers
- International Association of Fire Chiefs Fire and Life Safety Section
- International Association of Fire Fighters
- National Institute of Standard and Technology
Additional funding has been provided to IFE under the Fire Prevention and Safety Grant program to allow for the next phase of the project to continue and for each strategy to be expanded and developed further. The executive and steering committees are working on the methodology for the five strategy working groups to share information and keep working, much of it virtually by using the power of the Internet. Regular updates are going to be provided on the project’s website at Strategicfire.org