Instructions:
Here is the scenario… I am Fire Chief Bill Marshall of the ABC Fire Department. I will be holding a press conference relating to the situation below. This involves critical thinking of sorts. Maybe helpful to watch a speech or two on YouTube which I plan to do myself. This can be written as a speech which I will record myself.
Your community has just experienced a tragic Christmas Eve fire that killed three young children in a rental row home in an older section of town. The home had no working smoke detectors and fire started when the resident used the fireplace to try to heat the house because the oil tank was empty and the occupants could not afford to have it filled until after the first of the year. The fireplace had been in use for three days straight and the heat buildup caused the mantle to separate from the wall and a subsequent transfer of heat to the framing caused the fire in the middle of the night. Photos of firefighters carrying the deceased children out of the home in their matching Christmas pajamas were circulated on Facebook and the community is grieving and demanding change. This has brought fire prevention to the forefront of everyone’s attention. You know that the policy window is open and that it will not be open for ever. Your department recognizes this as an opportunity to secure funding for a much needed Geographic Information System (GIS) and authorize a community risk assessment that will inform a Community Risk Reduction (CRR) effort in the future.
City council is meeting and has asked you to come and discuss how this sort of tragedy can be prevented. You recognize this as an opportunity to get their commitment both politically and financially to modernize the fire prevention program in your department. Prepare a written outline and present a seven to ten minute speech to the council that explains how a 5 Es approach can prevent these incidents. Focus on the need for a risk and hazard assessment and explain how a GIS based fire risk and hazard assessment will let the fire department identify and classify the hazards and assets in the community, identifying risk factors, potential and probability for events. From there you will explain how having that data would allow the department to strategically target and address the hazards with risk reduction actions. Include real world examples of how GIS systems are being used. Motivate council to provide the funding and adopt any necessary legislation to enable the department to move forward with a fire prevention program integrated in a CRR program.
For this speech – It is a prepared speech you will address council with – it is a request for support and funding and a commitment from the municipal leaders to both politically and financially to modernize the fire prevention program in your department.
You must explain to them how a program that uses the 5 Es approach works.
The first big ask you are making is for funding and support to do a CRR risk and hazard assessment and explain how a GIS based fire risk and hazard assessment will let the fire department identify and classify the hazards and assets in the community, identifying risk factors, potential and probability for events.
From there you will explain how having that data would allow the department to strategically target and address the hazards with risk reduction actions. Include real world examples of how GIS systems are being used. Motivate council to provide the funding and adopt any necessary legislation to enable the department to move forward with a fire prevention program integrated in a CRR program.
From a classroom for the goals of this assignment, I must you show that I have integrated all of the knowledge that can be used to envision a program in your community and can use it as a Fire Chief would to create an argument with support to fund and support a community risk reduction based fire protection program in your community.
Possible references:
https://www.eso.com/blog/what-are-the-5-es-of-community-risk-reduction/
https://strategicfire.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/v2020-state-guide-08.07.19.pdf
https://www.firehouse.com/community-risk/article/10494424/strategic-planning-is-a-must-for-fire-prevention
https://ctb.ku.edu/en/influencing-policy-development
