America’s Continued Addiction to Fire Suppression
Sound rather harsh? Sound unrealistic? So does closing fire stations and laying off firefighters. So does continuing to expose firefighters to increasing levels of risk of injury or death because of...
View ArticleFire Prevention and Suppression: The Fire Service’s Identity Crisis
Driving a car once was an extremely dangerous activity for the average person (and it still is for people that don’t give it their full attention). In the United States, we’ve made significant...
View ArticleA New Stop Fires Paradigm
Why do we keep building homes and installing appliances and furnishings that don't keep fires from starting and spreading? A new stop fires paradigm is needed to eliminate preventable fires in the USA....
View ArticleResidential Fire Sprinklers: The Power of Words
We’ve got to stop ignoring the “elephant in the room” when it comes to fires in the United States, particularly in residential properties: we live in a culture that accepts that fires happen, fires...
View ArticleInsights to Improve Your Fire and EMS Department’s External Communications
Tanya Bettridge, a fire and life safety educator and essayist, offers a unique perspective on how lessons she derived from the recent U.S. Presidential Election can be used by fire and EMS departments...
View ArticleTourists: 3 Strategies for Protecting Them During Wildfires
One of the lessons to be learned from the eastern Tennessee fires is that fire departments and their communities can do a better job of proactively providing emergency information to an...
View ArticleEmotional marketing can make for better fire safety messages
You want someone in that pre-contemplation stage to suddenly go out and purchase four smoke alarms? You’re going to have to find ways to proverbially rip their heart out... go for the gut... make ‘em...
View ArticleIt ain’t my job. Or is it?
I hear what Dwight’s saying, which is even more reason for firefighters to get a good education on the fire code for their municipality during their entry-level training. We don't expect police...
View ArticleFire 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...
View ArticleFire 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...
View ArticleChanging 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...
View ArticleChange Your Clock, Change Your Battery, Get Out of Your House
By: Robert Avsec, Executive Fire Officer Since 1966, most states have changed the clocks twice a year to save an hour of daylight. Love it or hate it, daylight saving time is coming up again. When you...
View ArticleMake 2018 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...
View ArticleWhat is your department doing for National Fire Prevention Week?
By: Robert Avsec Source: NFPA.org DYK, it’s only 17 weeks until the beginning of National Fire Prevention Week 2019? Hard to believe, right? Seems like it was just last week (But truth be known, it...
View ArticleTanya Bettridge is a Fire and Life Safety Educator You Should Know
By: Robert Avsec, Executive Fire Officer ICYMI, here’s Part I of this four-part series this week. Photo courtesy of NFPA.org Now if you’ve read Part I, you know that the focus here is how you and your...
View ArticleJennifer Cooper is a fire and life safety mentor you need to know
By: Robert Avsec, Executive Fire Officer ICYMI, here are Part I and Part II of this four-part series this week. Now if you’ve been following along, you know that the focus here is how you and your...
View ArticleTo 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 the planet, shocks me. The...
View ArticleIs your community “inoculated” against preventable fires?
By: Robert Avsec, Executive Fire Officer https://thesaurus.plus/img/antonyms/217/inoculate.png Well, is it? Are you and your family inoculated against preventable fires? You may think that it’s enough...
View ArticleFire Safety Messages: What Are You Selling?
By: Robert Avsec, Executive Fire Officer Tanya Bettridge My fire service colleague Tanya Bettridge is the Captain for Public Education at Mississauga (ON) Fire and Emergency Services. But more than...
View ArticleWhat 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...
View Article