Northern California Fire Prevention Officers

Public Education Committee

April 2005 

Members Present:

Selena Brown- Woodside Fire - selenab@woodsidefire.org

Sandy Wargo -Novato Fire - swargo@novatofire.org

Leina Morris - Vallejo Fire - lmorris@ci.vallejo.ca.us

Shelley Engleman- Napa Fire - sengleman@cityofnapa.org

Big Au - Contra Costa Fire

Joy Rizzitello -U.S. Consumer Product- jrizzitello@cpsc.gov

Old Business:

Review of last month’s minutes.

Goals and Objectives were submitted to the Board. As of now NorCal Pub Ed Committee has committed to three goals, they are as follows:

• Sirens/Please Abide, Move Aside - public service announcement, make materials and public service announcement available for public use on the website.

• Share the Wealth - develop contacts within organization to share public education materials & grant opportunities. Make all materials available on the website.

• Guest Speaker - Solicit availability of guest speakers and all related costs. Make information obtained available on the website.

Discussion of 2005-2006 budget proposal. 

New business:

Joy Rizzitello, a Senior Investigator with U.S. Consumer Products spoke. She notified the committee that next month is Older Consumer Safety Month. A CD containing publications was distributed. Leina Morris suggested the material be made available on NorCal’s website. 

Napa Fire – Held a multi-agency evacuation drill. Nine departments were involved; the event was very successful. Also, Novato Fire recently received monies from Kiowana’s towards the purchase of a remote controlled Sparky. They also had been visited Diamond Matches with a new concept for child safe matchboxes. Shelly Englemen gave her input to the company.

Contra Costa Fire – The Fireman’s Fund granted Contra Costa money to purchase a "Wheel of Fire".

Fireman’s Fund – Supplies fire helmets to Novato Fire at no cost.

Generic Activity Booklet – Sandy Wargo suggested the committee put together a generic activity book for children, the booklet could then be converted to PDF and placed on Norcal’s website.

Quarterly Newsletter – Selena Brown made a suggestion that the committee put together a quarterly newsletter. She volunteered to spearhead the project.

Novato Fire – Sandy Wargo shared PSA’s that will be viewed in local movie theatre, "Use Safety Gear, Roll with It", and "Prevent Drowning, Keep a Watchful Eye". Sandy Wargo will contact photographer to see if pictures can be converted to JPEG for use amongst committee.

Fire Safety Brochures – Generic pamphlets on fire safety will be made available by Novato Fire.

Woodside Fire – Recently received a grant from Fireman’s Fund, used the money to purchase a chipper. They will be implementing a community chipper program.

Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation – Juvenile Firesetter Intervention Training cancelled for April 27^th. There is an alternate training session on April 29^th in Foster City. More info contact jmarshall@aarbf.org

Meeting was adjourned at 11:20 a.m.

Next regularly scheduled meeting on May 19, 2005 at 10:00 a.m., and will be held at Contra Costa County Fire Training Division.