Today, the fire department is essential to many communities. In recent years, their role has considerably increased beyond firefighting to include more activities. The fire and life safety education program is a novel initiative of the fire department's fire prevention efforts. (Cote, 2003). Aiming to raise public knowledge of human actions that could result in fires, scalding, burns, and other illnesses or fatalities that endanger public safety, the education program was created. The development of the necessary abilities and information that aid in preventing fires and minimizing injuries in fire cases is another goal of fire and life safety education programs. The last day of the Fire Prevention Week (FPW) program was a festive affair conducted in the largest grade school (Carter & Rausch, 2017). Children got actively engaged as they prepared pictures and stories about fire and life safety. These skills were displayed in the hallway as an appreciation of their good work. The schools' superintendent Mrs. Tatre gave an overview of the FPW program in schools and stressed how the schools appreciate the fire department for their help. The mayor also stressed on how no fire incidents have been reported in the schools for three years, and also gave credit to the fire department. He appreciated Lynn’s, the fire chief, devotion to fire prevention and the fire and life safety education program. The chief addressed the audience, and then introduced the new chief, Captain Drake, who succeeds him (Carter & Rausch, 2017). Captain Drake thanked the fire department for putting together an educational program for everyone. A parent also spoke and thanked the fire department for their efforts and asked about a new program that was to be implemented. The chief did not know about the program that the three volunteers introduced. The volunteers had to be introduced to explain on the program. They were inspector Jackson, and firefighters Randall, Clark, and Morales (Carter & Rausch, 2017).
When the firefighters left, they went to their office where the chief had a meeting with the team. However, the chief noted some major issues with the team. They did not seem enthusiastic as they had been before attending the meeting. The team felt that it was not an easy task coming up with something new for each grade. The captain noted the team’s reaction and related it to them not been introduced at FPW. They were only introduced because the captain had to answer a parent’s question on a program that he had no idea of. They also needed to be noted by their family and friends in the audience (Carter & Rausch, 2017).
Potential Solutions
The team although they were unhappy with the Chief’s action had solutions to fire and life safety education program. One solution is sending the local clubs and associations emails, offering to speak at their meetings and distribute fire and life safety materials. An open house should also be set at the fire stations. These open houses would provide tours for children and adults and brief talks on fire and life safety at home would be held and also hold demonstrations. A final solution is recruiting volunteer speakers who would help supplement the department team with presentations and articles for the dailies, that would make more organizations request presentations on fire and life safety.
Expressing appreciation for the efforts of the members of the department is one major management skills that helps yield higher levels of satisfaction. Other leadership behaviors are mutual respect, communication, and participation in decisions. Appropriate psychological and tangible rewards offered and provided effectively and efficiently are likely to help bring about the highest possible level of satisfaction from the use and creation of the fire and life safety service. These services include emergency medical services (EMS), fire prevention activities, fire suppression, offering psychological service in reassuring citizens that they can call the fire department in serious and even minor emergencies.
To start on the enlisting program, the suggestions that would be available from other stakeholders in fire and life safety are a good start. These stakeholders include school administrators, classroom teachers, health educators, and community organizers. In this scenario, practices of the fire department seemed to encourage participation of the other stakeholders in decisions. There was extensive participation within the team, especially between the chief and the captain, and between the team and the captain. For successful fire and life safety education, the managers of the fire department need to have good decision-making skills. The decisions are important in identifying the major setbacks and the target audience. The managers are able to design a program that addresses all the problems faced by the audience and they deliver a right program to the right people. The chief has the sole responsibility of organizing the department for fire and life safety education programs. For the huge number of people in the fire department who volunteer, their efforts should be tailored.
Recommendations
Fire and life safety education programs need to put emphasis on attracting public interest and cooperation in the critical areas that need to be addressed. Components of the program should be designed to reduce potential fire risks as well as be appealing and motivational to target groups. The fire department needs to do more research in the community to get information on the learning attitudes, capabilities, behaviors, and the knowledge that the target audience has.
For appropriate communication of upcoming fire and safety education programs, the fire department need to come up with posters, flyers, and other handouts
Conclusion
The program of fire and life safety public education is a suitable platform for the fire department to impact the community positively. The firefighters and officials can perform tasks such as speaking, writing, and visiting schools which have a positive impact on the society. The personnel involved can also find these activities as rewarding.
Reference
Carter, H. R., & Rausch, E. (2017). Management in the fire service. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC.
Cote, A. E., & National Fire Protection Association. (2003). Fire protection handbook. Quincy, Mass: National Fire Protection Association
