FULLY INVOLVED

Photo above: Captain Chad Sprinkle

Meeting the needs of the community with safety education

The MFRD Community Risk Reduction Division (CRR) is fully involved and committed to keeping the community safe. CRR is a process to identify and prioritize local risk, followed by an integrated and strategic investment of resources to reduce their occurrence and impact. Simply put, CRR seeks to eliminate and reduce hazards in the community.

One of several methods that the CRR staff uses to meet the needs of the community is safety education. After each fire, they canvas the community in hopes to keep the homeowners informed. They have several firefighters go door to door to empower each individual with information and education to stay safe in the home. This is a unique opportunity for safety professionals to be in the homes and it provides some in-depth insight toward enhancing safety measures. Once in the homes, they can provide safety information and offer assistance on methods to stay safe. These methods are beneficial in that they allow CRR to expound upon their safety efforts.

Each quarter, an area of the city is identified and CRR collectively canvasses the entire community. In this case, they partner up with Red Cross, along with other firefighters and go door to door installing smoke alarms. When installing the smoke alarms, the safety professionals determine the best placement and the number of alarms to be installed. In most cases, smoke alarms will be installed on each floor and near each bedroom of the home.

If the homeowner isn’t home, information is left to contact the department at a later date to schedule the safety visit. Other information offered is the residential home Knox key program. This program allows the homeowner to have a special Knox box installed on the home. The Knox box allows emergency fire personnel to gain access to the home in an emergency in case the homeowner cannot answer the door.

CRR is the “service” in “fire service”. They strive to improve upon all safety matters and concerns in order to continue a healthy and balanced lifestyle. The community may not come into contact with fire trucks or fire personnel very often, but when it does, CRR wants that contact to be a pleasurable experience.

THE SMOKE ALARM BLITZ is a time that children can come out with parents to meet the fire chief and other safety professionals. It is a time for the fire department to address any needs and concerns the community may have. Over 1,000 smoke alarms have been either installed or given out. The number of lives impacted—countless!

Captain Dale Calhoun, Driver Rob Brown and Firefighter Jonathan Mosner

Captain Ben McKenna and Captain Sam Allen