Southern California Fire Prevention Officers

PUBLIC EDUCATION COMMITTEE

Meeting Minutes – 2/24/04

Chino Valley Fire Department

PRESENT:

Martìn Aguilera- Carlsbad Fire Department�

Nancy Kidd -Chino Valley Fire Department

Brenda Emrick -Downey Fire Department

Kelley Larson- Rancho Cucamonga Fire Department

Penni Overstreet-Murphy- San Bernardino County Fire Department

WELCOME :

Battalion Chief Jeff Gaul welcomed the group to the Chino Valley Fire Department.

PROGRAM:

This was a very informal meeting to provide a forum for sharing public education ideas and programs managed at the participating departments.

BUSINESS MEETING:

• The California Fire Prevention Institute workshop will be held at the Rancho Santa Barbara Marriot this year (previously held in Monterey). The training is scheduled for March 15-19, 2004 at the Marriott. The conference will include four tracks: management, technical; code; and public education. Two courses (crisis oriented for seniors and children) from the National Fire Academy will be offered. Wednesday, March 17^th will be Vendor Day.
• The California Juvenile Firesetter Coalition is a newly formed nonprofit group. Officers have been established and they are beginning to recruit members. There is an annual membership fee of $25. This group meets the 4^th Thursday of the month. The next general meeting is scheduled for February 26^th at 10:30 a.m. in Temecula (Fire Station #84).
• Drowning Prevention Symposium will be held in conjunction with the Injury Prevention Conference, April 14-16, 2004 in Palm Springs. The first two days of the conference are strictly focused on drowning-related topics. The 3^rd day of the conference is focused on injury prevention. For more information, visit their website at www.partnersinprevention2004.com.

• The NFPA Conference will be held May 23-26, 2004 in Salt Lake City, UT.
• "New Hope for Children, Families, & Community Conference: Issues Concerning the Mental Well-Being of Children 0-5 years old" will be held on April 22, 2004 at the Ontario Convention Center. The conference is sponsored by the Knott’s Family Agency and First 5 of San Bernardino.

• "Safety & Kids Traffic Summit 2004" will be held May 16-19, 2004 in Universal City. This conference is sponsored by the City of Los Angeles and the California Office of Traffic Safety.

• The U.S. Forest Service has a new resource available to all departments to educate the public about wildfires and preserving the forests. This mobile exhibit is actually an educational trailer called "The Wildfire Experience." According to the U.S. Forest Service, "this expandable mobile exhibit delivers messages about the role of fire in creating a healthy forest, targeting teens and adults." For more information about this resource, please contact Laura Dyberg with the Fire Education Program at (909) 382-2773 or e-mail ldyberg@fs.fed.us. �

RESOURCE SHARING:

• Nancy Kidd (Chino Valley Fire) shared her Risk Watch program and the types of props and teaching aids that she uses. She briefly described the presentations that she also incorporates with the program. Nancy shared the personalized informational handouts that the CVFD distributes as well as the fun giveaways that are distributed. She is currently having a display board (8’ x 8’) made for public appearances at various events within the community.
• Kelley Larson (Rancho Cucamonga) has been busy with emergency preparedness activities, which has forced a lot of her public education programs to be placed on the back burner. She kicked off a pilot program for Risk Watch but had to end the program this year due to budget and staff constraints. She is hoping to rejuvenate the program next school year. In the meantime, she is focusing on various community events and having interactive displays at those events.
• Martìn Aguilera (Carlsbad) has an awesome puppet show and stage that was created by some of the suppression personnel in his department.
• Brenda Emrick (Downey) shared a wealth of information. She wanted to know if anyone knew of Fireproof Children out of New York – Penni stated we had them out several years ago in Apple Valley, but we could ask for a return visit. Brenda is very creative and shared her Halloween fire station event, a tunnel made of wood that is useful for crawl low, pictures of the various events throughout the year, hoop the hydrant and other games, she does a program a month and still does the CERT and will be doing junior CERT.
• Penni Overstreet-Murphy (San Bernardino County Fire) shared about Practice and Learn (PAL) that was developed by Anna Smith as well as some of the other great ideas. Penni stated she has been attending more County/State-wide meetings to form more partnerships. County Fire is working with the Mojave AQMD to teach the Natural Disasters curriculum to teachers in the High Desert. County Fire along with Temecula Fire had a Risk Watch training on January 31^st as part of the Southern California RiskWatch Coalition. Penni encouraged everyone to attend their meetings. Maria and Candie shared photos and talked about the new Safety Trailer and how they are incorporating Risk Watch (Injury Prevention and Natural Disasters).

NEXT MEETING:

The March meeting will be held on March 18^th at the Fire Prevention Institute’s Conference in Buellton. The next regularly scheduled meeting will be April 13 at 10:00 location and topic TBA.