Fire safety education. That idea doesn’t give the same adrenalin rush as the wail of a siren or the sight of black, billowing smoke, does it? I’ve been around the fire service long enough to remember when the most memorable things about fire-safety education were the animals: Sparky the Fire Dog or Smokey Bear.
For the past 15 years, however, a small but growing force has worked to change firefighters’ perception of fire-safety education. More individuals are now attracted to the challenge of educating a broad range of citizens in need. Educators have been spurred on by fire deaths and injuries among the young, the old, and fellow firefighters.
Meri-K Appy has played a tremendous role in that change. As vice president of public education for the National Fire Protection Association, Appy brought the field beyond coloring books and good-old Sparky. In her current role as president of the Home Safety Council, Appy not only has focused on a broad range of safety issues in homes, but she has elevated the role of fire-safety educator nationally.
Two years ago, Appy and the HSC created the Dr. Anne W. Phillips Award for Leadership in Fire-Safety Education. The award is presented annually at the Congressional Fire Services Institute’s Fire & Emergency Services Dinner, allowing more than 2,300 fire chiefs, officers and congressional dignitaries from across the country to acknowledge one person for his or her efforts in educating the public about fire safety.
This year Nancy Trench, assistant director for Fire Protection Publications, Oklahoma State University, was honored for her “lifetime of commitment to advancing fire and life-safety education.” Trench has been involved with the fire service for more than 30 years. She attended OSU and earned her associate’s degree in fire science. After completing her bachelor’s degree, she began to work with Richard Struther, who developed the NFPA’s Learn Not to Burn campaign.
Over the years, Trench also has leveraged that expertise and fostered valuable partnerships to develop the Fire Safety Solutions for People with Disabilities program, which provides fire-safety education and smoke-alarm installations for people with hearing, visual or mobility impairments. Her ongoing dedication to Fire Safety Solutions research projects has yielded successful programs that promise to refocus life-safety approaches to high-risk populations, including young children and people with disabilities.
“In some ways, being an advocate for fire-safety education — especially when you try to institute it in the fire service — is like you’re robbing Peter to pay Paul. The only winner here is Paul,” Trench said.
Trench believes that sometimes you have to be unorthodox to be heard. “My entire career, I think I have been that person,” said Trench. “The fire service tolerated me because I was a woman — most of the time the only woman in the room — so they expected a different view.”
When accepting her award, Trench quoted anthropologist Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
Who in your department has the thoughtfulness and committment to change your fire-safety–education program?
