The new Virtual Community Risk Reduction program will debut at the 2017 California Fire Chiefs Association Conference held at the Riverside Convention Center on September 27, 2017. Virtual CRR allows fire departments to improve the lives of their communities by reaching those that do not call 911. It would be great to have every home visited by a firefighter to perform a safety assessment, but this is not possible due to time constraints, budgets, and many in our communities do not want an in-home visit. Virtual CRR allows for this safety assessment to occur virtually, opening doors to the community that have been closed.
Virtual CRR utilizes a unique survey technique that provides a customized report based on the responses to the survey. The fire department sends out a custom survey to their community through social media, their web page, fire prevention information, etc. inviting their community to learn more about safety or emergency preparedness. Once they complete the survey, they are provided with a report with detailed information on how they can improve their situation. They also have the opportunity to request more information or an in-home visit from their local fire department. This is just like having a firefighter perform a safety assessment in their home.
The fire department benefits from this service because they are able to get their valuable safety information to a much larger audience and Virtual CRR is collecting statistical information about their communities. This information will let them know where the largest risks are in their jurisdictions and help them plan how to reduce and limit that risk. The metrics collected provide information such as, “What percentage of homes in your community have working smoke alarms?” Most fire chiefs would love to have information like this.
For more information on Virtual Community Risk Reduction please contact Brent Faulkner, CEO of MBIntel Inc. at [email protected] and visit MBIntel.net.
