January 22, 2021 – Community Risk Reduction (CRR) Week, January 18-24, is a grassroots event designed to heighten awareness of community risk reduction as an important prevention process. As fire departments across the nation celebrate CRR Week, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is supporting these efforts by reinforcing the value of conducting a community risk assessment, which serves as the foundation for the development of a community risk reduction (CRR) plan. NFPA 1300, Standard on Community Risk Assessment and Community Risk Reduction Plan Development, plays an invaluable role in that process, providing the requirements needed to conduct a community risk assessment (CRA), and to develop, implement, and evaluate a community risk reduction (CRR) plan.
“CRR is a process to help communities identify local risks, and to develop a plan that helps reduce the risks viewed as high priority. CRR Week serves a powerful opportunity to increase awareness about the important role of CRR initiatives in driving community safety,” said Karen Berard-Reed, community risk reduction strategist at NFPA.
NFPA actively works to advance CRR on a year-round basis. In addition to the wealth of resources and support it offers public safety officials and advocates who are working to implement CRR in their communities, NFPA is now building a digital community risk assessment (CRA) tool, which will help community leaders gain valuable insights and make data-informed decisions around fire prevention and other risk-reduction activities that are specific to their region, featuring data visualization tools that make it easy to plan, manage and communicate the results of their efforts.
“Access to relevant data such as community demographics and local risk factors will allow CRR leaders to gain insights and make informed decisions about where to focus efforts and resources,” said Berard-Reed. “While many fire departments have struggled to work with data sets, NFPA’s CRA dashboard does the complex work behind the scenes to align local data sets with NFPA 1300 requirements, making it easier for stakeholders to create effective community risk reduction plans that incorporate five priorities - education, engineering, enforcement, economic incentives, and emergency response - in the most impactful ways possible.”
Central to the development of this new CRA tool is a pilot program involving participation from 250 fire departments across the U.S. (49 states) that are using the tool to assess and provide feedback on key features that will help maximize its effectiveness.
“Interactive participation in this project allows each fire department to provide important feedback that will be used to improve future versions of the dashboard, positions the community among CRR leaders in the United States, and signals an interest in leveraging technology to drive high-quality community safety initiatives,” said Berard-Reed.
Follow NFPA’s CRR efforts on social media using #itstartswithinsights, or for more information online, visit www.nfpa.org/crr.
For this release and other announcements about NFPA initiatives, research and resources, please visit the NFPA press room.
About the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)
Founded in 1896, NFPA® is a global self-funded nonprofit organization devoted to eliminating death, injury, property and economic loss due to fire, electrical and related hazards. The association delivers information and knowledge through more than 300 consensus codes and standards, research, training, education, outreach and advocacy; and by partnering with others who share an interest in furthering the NFPA mission. For more information, visit www.nfpa.org. All NFPA codes and standards can be viewed online for free at www.nfpa.org/freeaccess.
