“The sky’s the limit” for a new Smart Board at the Fort Smith Fire Department that will be used to train firefighters and participants of the Citizens Fire Academy, the chief said Monday.
“Sometimes when you get people my age in the fire service, this technology thing goes over our heads,” said Fort Smith Fire Chief Mike Richards, who is 55. Capt. Phil Christensen and Assistant Fire Chief Terry Bigler “are really very good with new technology, so we will learn things we never thought about as we get this program together.”
A $7,000 “Good Neighbor” grant from State Farm Insurance will fund the Smart Board and needed accessories. State Farm’s River Valley Agency Field Executive Dan Carr presented the grant to Richards at the fire department Monday. The grant coincided with the start of national Fire Prevention Week.
Richards said the Smart Board, an interactive white board, will be able to keep an audience, whether it’s firefighters or civilians participating in the Citizens Fire Academy, engaged in their topic better than a traditional PowerPoint presentation.
“After you’ve been exposed to (PowerPoints) for so long, you go, ‘Oh my God, we’re going to another PowerPoint and someone’s going to read to us,’” Richards said. “But (the Smart Board) can be interactive. It can bring a lot of audio and visual elements and put them together, and it’s going to generate a lot more interest in the (Citizens Fire Academy).”
Carr said there is a correlation between fire safety and fire prevention that the Smart Board can help strengthen.
“I think any time we can make that connection between the training and saving lives, saving property, saving money and reducing premiums, we’re all about that,” Carr said.
Two years ago, the department applied for a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant that would have included money for a Smart Board, but that was declined, said Bigler, who submitted the application for State Farm grant. He said it’s exciting to finally get the Smart Board.
“It’s exciting just to get it and take that next step in technology to get something that’s more interactive,” Bigler said while pointing to the old projector and screen.
The Citizens Academy is a free, nine-week course that is held twice a year. About 25 participants are fully immersed in the typical duties of a firefighter. They do things like rappel from the ladder truck, breathe from a self-contained breathing apparatus and use a fire hose.
Dist. 65 State Rep. Tracy Pennartz, a graduate of Fort Smith’s Citizens Fire Academy, said while the experience was unique, a Smart Board could have integrated different types of video and audio to make more interesting presentations.
“Plus, it does other types of things that are just amazing that help them teach us about certain situations, and so I think the Smart Board is going to be integral as a training device for the future of the academy,” Pennartz, D-Fort Smith, said shortly after the presentation.
Christensen, the head of the Citizens Fire Academy, said the Smart Board will allow the department to be more creative in its presentations.
The classes meet once a week for three hours, and one of those nights is dedicated to fire prevention. According to 2007 data from the Federal Emergency Management Association, Arkansas’ rate for fire fatalities is double the national average at 26 deaths per million, which ranks third nationally.
“It teaches them a little bit more fire safety awareness in their home and their businesses also,” Christensen said.
The next Citizens Academy will be in the spring, he said.
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