Fire Safety Education sidebar: Partnering For Prevention

Partnering For Prevention, a free online training program, has been launched by nonprofit FIRE 20/20. The program teaches fire and emergency services personnel (career and volunteer) how to effectively engage multicultural communities in sustainable, cost-effective prevention partnerships that bring free resources and increased commitment from the community.

“Our country’s growing multicultural communities present new and unique fire prevention and community risk-reduction challenges,” South Carolina State Fire Marshal Shane Ray said. “FIRE 20/20’s Partnering For Prevention training is a good resource for fire and emergency responders who are looking to improve their fire prevention initiatives.”

Partnering For Prevention is based on findings from two national research studies completed by FIRE 20/20 that show multicultural community leaders want to be more involved in community safety initiatives, but are seldom asked by their local fire departments. The online training features strategies and tactics from fire service experts across the U.S., as well as interviews with leaders from 12 multicultural and high-risk communities: Hispanic, African American, Somali, Vietnamese, Chinese, Filipino, Ukrainian, Sikh, senior, deaf, hard of hearing and homeless communities.

Lessons include:

• Review of national issues affecting fire prevention and risk reduction in multicultural communities

• Community partnership mapping

• Leading a fire prevention culture

• Increasing cultural understanding

• Marketing prevention to the community

• Conducting leader-to-leader meetings with multicultural communities

• Step-by-step case studies

• Completing a department fire prevention report card

The three-hour training program is available in eight 15- to-20-minute segments. It The training was developed in partnership with the Renton, WA, Fire & Emergency Services Department, National Association of State Fire Marshals (NASFM), International Association of Fire Marshals (IFMA) and Vision 20/20, and funded through a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) fire prevention grant.

“FIRE 20/20 has done some amazing work in linking the issues of a growing multicultural society in the U.S. with effective prevention programs,” said Jim Crawford, director of Vision 20/20. “The Partnering For Prevention online training will increase the understanding of these issues at the national, regional, state and local levels. There is information in here for policy makers and the fire and life safety community at all levels.”

To register and log into the Partnering For Prevention online training, go to http://fire2020.org/partneringforpreventiontraining/.