Promoting fire safety
Published: 07 October, 2009
A new media guide has been launched for fire spokepersons to help ensure they communicate fire safety messages effectively to the media to help communities avoid fires that can lead to fire and tragic accidents.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, the U.S Fire Administration (USFA) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) have redeveloped and enhanced resources and tools, including a Fire Spokesperson's Pocket Media Guide
for the media and fire service spokespeople to use in communicating fire safety messages that help communities take preventive measures to reduce the tragic loss of life and injuries from residential fires
Public Information Officers (PIOs) play a pivotal role in communicating timely fire safety and prevention information to the public. The communication strategies and tools, found in the Fire Spokesperson’s Pocket Media Guide, are most effective in “teachable moments”, just following a fire-related tragedy when public awareness is heightened. In 2008, fire departments across the US responded to 403,000 home fires, in which the lives of 2,755 people were claimed and another 13,560 were injured.
These statistics define the number of opportunities PIOs have to deliver the timely, life-saving messages found in the pocket media guide. An affected community is most receptive to hearing prevention tips in the moments and days following a fire. The Fire Spokesperson’s Pocket Media Guide will aid PIOs to learn how to maximize the impact of a fire safety message in interviews with local and national news media. Doing so will help their community take preventive measures to reduce the tragic loss of life and injuries from residential fires.
To download the guide, click here.
