The Equivalent of a Fire Department CRR Professional at a Fraction of the Cost

Do you have unlimited funding at your department? If the answer to the question is yes, stop reading and pat yourself on the back. Of course, very rarely does any department have enough funds to accomplish every project. Some even struggle to provide basic services and keep fuel in the fire apparatus.

Does a lack of funding stop community expectations? It doesn’t, and in most cases, community members would love to have every public safety agency funded to fulfill its mission. However, the reality is that resources are finite; there only is so much to go around.

This lesson was driven home when one of the authors went to Sierra Leone to assist the National Fire Force (SLNFF). As the team stood on the water tower that the SNLFF chief built to collect rainwater to use for firefighting, it became clear that all departments must be creative and prioritize solutions that maximize limited staff and funds. Because an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, community risk reduction (CRR) is taking center stage for many departments in North America.

What makes CRR easier for departments are new technologies that are on the market today that help to maximize departments’ limited resources.

Although many of these options aren’t free, investing in CRR technology often is much less costly than the price of operational needs. Further, if done correctly, CRR does more to lower risk than the best-equipped fire apparatus.

To be clear, we don’t endorse replacing operational firefighters but, rather, allocating some resources and time to CRR programs to help to take the strain from the crews that, in many departments, already are stretched thin.

Community risk assessment

A community risk assessment (CRA) is a foundational project that provides an initial benchmark of a community’s risk as well as gives valuable intelligence to decision-makers concerning their community and the biggest threats to its safety. CRAs also are extremely beneficial for leaders who want to use data to justify their needs and get ahead of the proverbial eight ball before a community risk becomes a community disaster.

Although you might be able to complete a CRA yourself/with the assistance of a few staff members, one must consider the effort’s true cost and how long that it will take. The fact is you might be looking at hundreds of staff hours to get people trained in the skills that are needed to complete the assessment in addition to doing the assessment. You also must add the opportunity cost of what else these staff members could be doing instead of becoming data specialists. Although some departments are fortunate enough to be capable of adding public safety analysts to the roster, for most departments, this isn’t possible. Considering all of these factors, it’s no wonder that CRR and the like often get put on the back burner, particularly when it comes time for budget discussions.

Several organizations offer data analysis solutions. Two that are of particular note are Esri and NFPA.

Esri offers a huge array of data analysis tools if you have a single Esri license for your organization (not always the fire department itself). Esri offers classes on its platform in addition to step-by-step instructions for creating extremely powerful public safety visualizations.

Whether you want to have real-time incident data or geospatial data analysis, Esri is super-public-safety-friendly and a great resource.

Beyond Esri’s own tools, there are myriad Esri-powered solutions that were created by third-party vendors that also can help to give you great insight to your data.

NFPA’s Craig 1300 is a great CRR tool that’s built on the MapBox platform. (The original Craig 1300 dashboard was created by mySidewalk as a standalone product.) Craig 1300 also powers the International Association of Fire Chiefs’ Emergency Services Consulting International (ESCI) Community Risk Hub. This offers geospatial data analysis tools that can help to tell the story of a community’s risk profile.

Implementing one of the aforementioned solutions or something similar might prove to be drastically more affordable than the staff hours that would be dedicated to creating a potentially inferior deliverable for the chief and community.

Fire code compliance

There was a time when one of the authors was assigned to the Fire Prevention Bureau of his department, and his fire chief wanted to find a way to increase the number of inspections without adding staffing. The department tried several options to meet the chief’s demands, including moving inspectors to assigned areas and having inspectors complete the compliance inspection after the engine companies completed their first inspection. The ultimate solution that was identified came after a little research.

What if you were told that multiple companies can help to improve compliance with fire code without a cost to implement? Sound too good to be true? At least three major players drive businesses’ compliance with fire alarm and fire suppression system inspection, testing and maintenance. Brycer, First Due and IROL each offer a unique approach to CRR. In all three cases, the cost of the solution isn’t paid be the fire department. Rather, the alarm and suppression system contractors or the property owners pay a nominal fee to submit inspection, testing and maintenance records. You can consider these companies and the services that they provide as a force multiplier for your agency.

This also is a great way for contractors to alert a fire department to needed repairs on fire alarms and fire suppression systems and to help to get fire marshals/inspectors involved when buildings become unsafe and the property owner refuses to have the systems serviced. These solutions provide actionable intelligence to the department based on other industry professionals who work in its jurisdiction. This has been proven to drive compliance with fire code and to reduce community risk, because the efforts don’t rely on the often-limited resources of the authority having jurisdiction. In many cases, all it takes is a minor change to local legislation to allow the fees to be charged.

Each company has a rollout plan to help to gain community acceptance of the solution.

Educational programs

For many departments, it’s more than a full-time job to develop, market and distribute CRR training and materials. Although there are some free options that produce generic templates, they often fall short of a full CRR communication plan.
Virtual CRR is a company that specializes in developing community-tailored solutions. Its work starts with a community survey. It then helps departments to build and deliver educational programs.

Virtual CRR’s services include home fire safety, wildland fire preparedness, drowning prevention, fire prevention, emergency preparedness, earthquake preparedness, hurricane preparedness, tornado preparedness and flooding preparedness. For less than the cost of a single employee’s benefits, a department can have a fully developed CRR program.

Bolstering the tool box

Without doubt, CRR efforts are proving to be worth the investment both in lives saved and properties protected. With the assistance of the latest innovations, CRR can help any size department to better serve its community. Whether reducing staff hours that are spent gathering actionable intel, leveraging other community partners to help with prevention efforts or getting the equivalent of a full-time CRR professional at a fraction of the cost to pay such an individual, these innovations are great additions to a department’s toolbox.