Southern California Fire Prevention Officers

PUBLIC EDUCATION COMMITTEE

Meeting Minutes – 2/8/05

San Bernardino County Fire Dept.

PRESENT:

Jill Posadas- Arrowhead Regional Medical Center

Nancy Kidd -Chino Valley Fire Dept.

Grace Andres- La Habra Heights Fire Dept.

Kelley Larson -Rancho Cucamonga Fire Department

Larry Hernandez -Riverside County Office of Education

Penni Overstreet-Murphy- San Bernardino County Fire Dept.

Charles Salcido- San Bernardino County Fire Dept. 

WELCOME:

Penni welcomed the group to the San Bernardino County Fire Dept. and gave a brief overview of the committee for those that were new to the group.

PROGRAM:

No program was scheduled for today's meeting.

BUSINESS MEETING:

• The Fire Prevention Institute’s 2005 Conference has been set for March 14-18, 2005 in Buellton, CA. There will be a code track, management track, and urban wildland interface track. On the 14^th & 15^th a Juvenile Firesetter Intervention Specialist I course will be offered. On Friday, March 18^th the North and South FPO groups/committees will have joint meetings. There no longer is a public education track provided at this conference, however there are some classes offered that are related to Pub Ed topics. The FPO general membership meeting will be on the 18^th from 10:30-12:30 p.m. with the State Fire Marshal as the guest speaker.
• The California Juvenile Fire Setter Coalition is offering classes for Juvenile Fire Setter Intervention Specialist I and II for $50 each class. The classes will be held February 15^th-18^th at Ben Clark Training Center in Riverside. There will be a general membership meeting on Tuesday, February 15^th from 8-9 a.m. at training facility prior to the start of the classes.
• Inland Empire Safe Kids will be hosting a car seat safety check up for Child Passenger Safety Week, which is February 13^th-19^th. The Safety Event will be held on Saturday, February 12^th 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. at the Fontana Speedway.
• The 4^th Annual Injury Prevention Summit will be held March 30^th & 31^st at the Wyndham Hotel in Palm Springs. The theme this year is "From Action to Advocacy."
• The NFPA Conference will be held June 6^th-10^th in Las Vegas, NV. In years past, NFPA has held two conferences each year (spring and fall), however they have decided to combine the two and offer only one each year. The conference will be held at Mandalay Bay resort and the conference fee is $595 for non-members.
• Meeting Calendar:
• March
• – NO MEETING (Everyone is encouraged to attend the meeting in Buellton on March 18^th)
• April 12^th – Chino Valley Fire
• May 10^th – Rancho Cucamonga Fire
• June 14^th – TBA
• July 12^th – La Habra Heights Fire
• August 9^th- TBA
• September 13^th – TBA
• October – No meeting
• November 8^th – TBA
• December 13^th - TBA

Roundtable:

Arrowhead Regional Medical Center – Jill has been busy working with the Inland Empire Burn Institute (an affiliate of the San Diego Burn Institute). The IEBI will be hosting a Wine Extravaganza fund-raiser on April 24^th from 4 pm-7pm at the Ontario Hilton. Tickets are $50 each. She also reminded us that the Burn Institute has lots of publications available to us, simply visit their website.

La Habra Heights Fire - Grace reported that they have been very busy with the recent rains and related calls. There are a couple of homes immediately threatened by mudslides. La Habra Heights has also started a paramedic program that seems to be going well so far.

Riverside County Office of Education – Larry has been busy with disaster prep workshops. He will be attending a Safety Fair in Temecula on April 2^nd.

Chino Valley Fire – Nancy has been busy with Risk Watch, which is still going strong. Most of the schools are back on traditional, but three are still on year-round track schedules. With so many classrooms involved, she has had to reduce the program to only 1^st and 3^rd grades. She's looking to expand the number of schools now that the number of grades has been reduced. Nancy is also working on Drowning Prevention magnetic signs for all prevention vehicles. CVFD is also hiring for two fire inspectors. 

Rancho Cucamonga Fire – Kelley has been focused on emergency preparedness efforts recently, especially with the remodeling of the Emergency Operations Center. The new EOC has been completed and soon they will move back into the facility and begin training City staff on how to activate the EOC. The Chief has asked Kelley to brainstorm some ideas for re-vamping the public education programs that are delivered by including a broad spectrum of education messages. She is also working on the City's 4^th Annual Wellness Fair that was originally started by one of the school district nurses and grown into a City-wide event.

San Bernardino County Fire – Although Penni was sad to see Maria and Candie (her two assistants leave), she was pleased to introduce Charles who is her newest helper. She has been busy trying to get Risk Watch started as well as keeping up on Safety Trailer operations (including training explorers and maintaining the equipment). SBCo. Fire is also hiring new inspectors.

NEXT MEETING:

The next meeting is schedule for April 12^th at Chino Valley Fire Dept. Please note that there is no meeting during the month of March since the North and South committees of the FPO will be meeting at the conference in Buellton.