Southern California Fire Prevention Officers

PUBLIC EDUCATION COMMITTEE

Meeting minutes – 3/11/03

Rancho Santa Fe Fire Protection District

PRESENT:

Anne Lee - San Diego Sheriff’s Dept, Santee

Brenda Emrick - Downey Fire Department

Cathy Sang - American Red Cross, San Diego/Imperial Counties

Janell Starn - Vista Fire Protection District

Janet Carlson - San Diego Medical Services Enterprise, CSA-17

Kathy Howard - San Miguel Fire Protection District

Kelley Larson - Rancho Cucamonga Fire Department

Martin Aguilera - Carlsbad Fire Department

Monica Adams - Rancho Santa Fe Fire Protection District

Norma Barajas & Carrie -Rialto Fire Department

Penni Overstreet-Murphy- San Bernardino County Fire Department

PROGRAM:

Maureen O’Connor from San Diego Fire/EMS presented "Project Heartbeat," San Diego City’s Public Access Defibrillation (PAD) program. Numerous "saves" have been reported since the implementation of the defibrillator program. Defibrillators have been placed at the San Diego International Airport, local colleges, businesses and YMCA’s just to name a few! According to Jan Shuttleworth of San Diego Fire/EMS, over 620 units are now in San Diego in the short 1.5 years the program has been in place; their original goal was to implement 240 within 3 years. Well-done Project Heartbeat! If you are interested in implementing your own PAD program, you can contact Project Heartbeat for guidance at (619) 533-3439.

ROUNDTABLE:

• Martin Aguilera attended the meeting representing Carlsbad Fire Department. He asked if any fire departments were putting safety messages on vehicles/engines/ambulances for public display. Monica from Rancho Santa Fe Fire said her department does that and she will fax him some prototypes. Penni stated she had one example that she would get to Martin.

• Kathy Howard of San Miguel Fire District is having success getting her local schools to report fires on campus through a School Fire Reporting System. Kathy asked the group if they have had public inquiries regarding findings of children sleeping through the sound of smoke alarms. Not many educators had been asked about it, but all agree to continue to educate about the importance of smoke alarms and to emphasize practicing home escape plans. A Juvenile Firesetter Conference is in the works, possibly in late October/early November, more information will be forthcoming.

• Janell Starn is a new addition to the Vista Fire District. She was happy to attend our meeting and stated that they have had a number of juvenile set fires in the past few months.

• Brenda Emrick is the Fire Education Specialist from Downey Fire and has been working on many emergency preparedness activities including CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams), which has lots of participation from the community. Brenda recently sat on 2 grant committees and Downey Fire ended up receiving a $226,000 grant! Downey Fire will be participating in Kids Day on May 10^th, providing all kinds of fire & safety information.

• Kelley Larson is the PIO, CERT Coordinator and Public Educator for Rancho Cucamonga Fire Department. Kelley was co-PIO with one of the Rancho B/C’s during Rancho’s recent plane-crash-into-a-home in late January. Kelley announced that SOS Fires (juvenile firesetter resource) will be holding an upcoming conference providing Intervention Specialist I & II classes – yet, these are not certifications. Kelley was also on the committee that hosted an excellent Drowning Prevention Conference held in late February in Loma Linda. 

• Penni Overstreet-Murphy is the Fire Prevention Specialist for San Bernardino County Fire Department. Penni brought lots of information to share with the group including flyers for the Ventura LAFS Conference, info about the Calif State 911 system (reimburses you for the 911 education materials you buy), the Idea Bank, Robotics, Model Tech’s Hazard House and the State Fire Marshal’s info package called "Will Your Home Survive Fire?" Penni shared that she was a judge at the 2002 Future City Competition where Southern California middle school students design a city. The aspects of fire prevention where incorporated into the design of the City and a Nightingale Middle School was the winner for the Fire Prevention Award. This is a great opportunity to introduce fire safety into the middle schools. Penni said SB County Fire might not reap the benefits of the FEMA grant they were awarded because of budget cuts. April 10^th is Phoenix’s very successful "Water Safety Day" where students are bussed-in to participate in numerous water safety activities. Arson Awareness Week is 5/6-5/12, 2003. The California FPO Workshop will be held next March 15-19, 2004 in Rancho Santa Barbara. Penni shared two booklets from this years Public Education Track that are available as reference items: Marketing Fire Prevention in Your Community and Community Risk Issues and Prevention Interventions. Penni discussed the So Cal FPO’s Public Education Committee calendar, which meets the 2^nd Tuesday of every month—if interested in attending or hosting one of their monthly meetings you can email Penni at poverstreet@fire.sbcounty.gov.

• Norma Barajas is the Fire Inspector & Public Educator for Rialto Fire. Norma introduced Carrie, her volunteer, who is currently in the Fire Inspector Academy at Crafton Hills College. Norma spoke of the numerous new developments/construction & extension of the freeway in her area, leading to a ton of growth in the City; as a result, she hopes Rialto will eventually be able to hire another inspector. 

• Anne Lee provides crime prevention education for the Sheriff’s Department in the Santee area. Anne recently held an Elder Abuse Academy where the Santee Fire Department provided some education with their clown show. Anne is also busy working on I.D. Theft campaigns, continuing the Red E. Fox 911 education program and playing McGruff the crime prevention dog during special events.

• Cathy Sang is the lead volunteer PIO for the American Red Cross. The ARC has been providing a lot of emergency preparedness information lately through the local media. This month the ARC is partnering with Lowe’s stores and selling disaster preparedness kits while marketing their new campaign "Together We Prepare." Lowe’s is also collecting donations for the Red Cross. The Disaster Action Teams who respond to emergencies around the county have been split up into ‘regional teams’ (north, south, east, west). The ARC has a new Board of Directors and has an interim CEO until a permanent CEO is hired hopefully sometime in the late spring.

• Monica Adams of the Rancho Santa Fe Fire Protection District has been working on wildfire and disaster preparedness education for the District’s residents and intends to implement a drowning prevention campaign in the late spring. RSF Firefighters recently participated in "Reading Day" at one of the local elementary schools where they read No Dragons for Tea and Stop, Drop & Roll: A Jessica Worries Book to 120 Kindergarten through fourth grade students; the firefighters, students and teachers all had a great time! The Fire District is going through a growth period with the hiring of 3 FF/PM and the promotions of 3 Captains & 3 Engineers to cover Station 4, which should open within a year. Monica will be attending CSTI’s Crisis Communications and the Media course in Shell Beach in early April.

NEXT MEETING:

April 8 in Ontario with their Earthquake Preparedness aspect of their Fire Safety Trailer (more specifics to follow)  

Remember that Fire Prevention Week is October 5-11, 2003 with the theme:

"When Fire Strikes: Get Out! Stay Out!"