Fire Service Partners With Literacy Groups To Reach At-Risk Citizens
"When I heard the number of 90 million people, I knew we had a big job ahead of us," said Home Safety Council President Meri-K Appy, who spearheaded the effort. She said current safety campaigns, such as free smoke alarm give-aways, do not always reach this demographic because they don't read about it.
In response, the HSC teamed with literacy advocates ProLitercy Worldwide to create new materials which they plan to deliver through literacy groups already established in communities, in conjunction with local fire service officials.
Appy said the pairing makes sense because the fire service and literacy groups are trying to reach the same communities, which tend to be less educated and therefore at higher risk. The program is being funded by a FIRE Act grant of $629,902 for fire prevention and education recently awarded to the HSC.
According to ProLiteracy Worldwide, fire safety materials commonly used by U.S. fire departments are written at a 6th-11th grade reading level. "That's well beyond what 90 million adults in the U.S. can read," said ProLiteracy spokeswoman Linda Church in a prepared statement. "Not only do we need instructional materials that can be easily understood by low-level readers, we also need a structured and targeted program to make sure they receive this life-saving information."
Six communities are now preparing to pilot the first-of-its-kind Fire Safety Literacy Program in urban and rural areas in the United States.
"We're excited about it," said Program Manager of Community Education Beth Anne Nesselt of the Montgomery County Fire Department in Maryland. "It meets a lot of what is stipulated in our mission of reaching out to at-risk citizens."
Nesselt said firefighters will receive training for the program in September and will run the pilot program from October through January at 33 stations. The firefighters will reinforce the program's safety messages, perform installation of smoke alarms and home safety checks, and put a friendly face on the fire department, she said.
"It's always been a challenge to reach out to this community," Nesselt said. "It's exciting to reach out, and prevent that 911 call."
Appy said the initial concept for the program was to translate safety messages into other languages, but through research she learned that the problem with communicating safety messages is not just a language barrier but that so many people don't read in their native language either. If they were simply to translate materials, "We would still be missing a lot of people who need our help," she said.
The program's new materials will read like little novels that explain about fire and the role of the fire department without being juvenile, Appy said. There will also be pictographic materials, safety information for tutors, and information for fire departments on how to help reinforce these messages.
Appy said that initially, fire service officials at focus group meetings were concerned about providing time or staff for the program, but both the fire and literacy groups grew more enthusiastic as they spoke about their shared mission to help the same communities. When one literacy leader said she was struggling just to find a place to meet with clients, a fire official offered space at a fire station. "I just thought that's a metaphor for the potential of the idea," Appy said.
"I imagine it will reach lots of people," she said of the program. "The literacy community and fire service community will benefit, in addition to helping both groups fulfill their missions."
Smoke alarms and a Fire Safety Literacy Kit will be provided at no charge through the Home Safety Council's Expert Network at www.homesafetycouncil.org/expertnetwork. The kit will include program guidance for training literacy tutors and fire service educators, as well as illustrated instructional materials developed specifically to teach basic fire safety measures to adult students.