Fire Safety Survey Results and discussion

I recently undertook an informal, non-scientific poll for a project I’m working on with the People’s Burn Foundation to develop additional educational material for the project www.igot2kno.org.  We wanted to know what fire safety topics people wanted to teach and what material was lacking so that we could work on filling in the gap.  Here are the results (with my comments at the end…and I would like to hear from all of you out there about them!)

I got a total of 76 responses.

Top three programs that people would like to deliver on a regular basis

• Cooking fire safety (49 responses)
• Egress (42)
• Alcohol and its role in fire safety (33)

Programs that are lacking material

• Alcohol and its role in fire safety (46)
• Electrical fire safety and egress (tie 37 each)
• Cooking fire safety (36)
• Sprinklers (28)
• Smoke alarms (26)
• Candle fire safety and smoking prevention (tie, 22 each)
• Fire extingiushers (13)

What is the delivery mechanishm that you currently use?

• Live presentation in a classroom setting (
  • Don’t use it =8%;
  • Sometimes use it = 34%;
  • Use it the most = 47%
• Live demonstrations (fire extinguisher training, etc.)
  • Don’t use it = 12%;
  • Sometimes use it = 43%;
  • Use it the most = 45%
• Delivery over television network
  • Don’t use it 86%;
  • Sometimes use it = 13%;
  • Use it the most = 1%
• Train the trainer (i.e. train RAs and then depend upon them to deliver the training)
  • Don’t use it = 23%;
  • Sometimes use it = 35%;
  • Use it the most = 43%
• Handout/provide print material
  • Don’t use it = 4%;
  • Sometimes use it = 45%;
  • Use it the most = 51%
• Internet based training (not igot2kno)
  • Don’t use it = 54%;
  • Sometimes use it = 37%;
  • Use it the most = 10%
• Use www.igot2kno.org
  • Don’t use it = 57%;
  • Sometimes use it = 39%;
  • Use it the most = 5%
• Student newspaper
  • Don’t use it = 44%;
  • Sometimes use it = 56%;
  • Use it the most = 0%

So, this is my interpretation on it and I’d be glad to hear what other people think:

• The top three programs that people want to deliver (Cooking, Egress and Alcohol) are within the top four for lacking fire safety information.  So that would mean that if we developed material for Cooking, Egress and Alcohol we would not be “reinventing the wheel” and developing material that is needed.
• In terms of how they are delivering their material, one of the most widely-used method (classroom presentation) is the one that is very labor intensive, reaches a minimal audience and probably is fairly ineffective with this demographic.  (However, since I didn’t make the questions mutually exclusive, we have to look at the results with a bit of analysis involved…).  For more information on reaching today’s students, read Student Views and Attitudes on Fire Safety, and How the Net Gen Learns.
• Live demonstrations seem to be widely used and they are very effective as well.  However, they are also very labor intensive and reach an even smaller segment of the population than classroom presentations.  You can seem some videos of these mockups being burned by clicking here.
• Train the trainer is another widely-used mechanism, but the effectiveness of this can be questionable mainly because of quality control (how effectively are the RAs and others really communicating the information?
• Handouts are widely used but they are, in my opinion, of marginal effectiveness with this demographic.
• Internet based training using platforms such as youtube and Facebook are not widely used which is unfortunate given this demographic.
• igot2kno, the free online training program developed under a DHS grant is not widely used.  This is actually an opportunity as we can greatly expand its impact rather than trying to reach for the last 5% of audience.  We have a lot of room for growth which is a good thing.
• Student newspaper is not a medium that is widely used and this is somewhat contrary to the research I have been reading where most students actively read the newspaper and this could be a very effective communications platform that is underutilized.

So, any thoughts on the findings and my comments?  Thanks!

Ed Comeau

Launch of National Campus Fire Safety Month

We had an incredibly successful launch to National Campus Fire Safety Month on Capitol Hill on September 17.  A contingent of 60 people that included students from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, parents who had lost children in campus fires, fire officials and advocates from across the nation joined together.

National Campus Fire Safety Month is co-sponsored by Campus Firewatch, the Ohio Fire Safety Coalition, the Congressional Fire Services Institute and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

See photos and videos at www.campus-firewatch.com.