By Becki White
We’ve all seen it—the headline that captures everyone’s注意力about afirein thecommunity, or the introduction on the nightly news: “Firebreaks outat the First StreetFactory”或“火broke outlast night in CenterCity…”
Each time I hear or see that phrase, I become more frustrated with the expression. It’s part ofculturein the United States to sensationalize fire. Behaving andspeakingas though fire juststrikesits next受害者with nowarningadds a magicalquality并使火似乎完全random。这truth, however, is dull. We don’t have boxes of magical fire stored in the back of the cupboard, allowing fire to just “break out”!
Considering why our culture accepts thismythicalperception大火，我意识到人们并不是真的knowmuch about it. We are familiar with fire becauseknowledgeof it isessential让我们做我们的工作safely。And because we know about it, we assume that everyone else does. However, most adults last experienced fire safety education when they were 10 years old, if at all. They learned about消防车and firefighters, about911and how to stop, drop, androll。这y learned about抽烟alarms, if they were lucky. But they don’t know aboutfire behavior, about抽烟and fire patterns, and about how建造styles andbuilding materialsimpact the growth and movement of a fire. Many believe they have five to 10 minutes or longer toexittheir homes in a fire when, in reality, they have half that time.
Having been trained to understand fire, we think it’s bizarre that they don’t take fire safety more seriously. (When I hear about theunsafebehaviors my own relativespractice, I shake my head and hope I was adopted.) But, how should they know any better? When would they have learned? Unless your department provideseducationto newresidentsin your community or has some way of tapping into the adult demographic, there’s just no way for them to learn these things.
人们在成年生活中了解到的大多数关于火的知识都来自他们的孩子和孙子schoolvisits from firefighters or from the media such as television shows, movies, and社交媒体。And we know how accurately fire behavior is portrayed on TV, right? It shows spot fires all around theroom, with little to no smoke or light, wispy smoke. That’s notreality呢我们知道，因为我们去过那里。这citizens没有。
As a culture, we accept a certain amount of fireloss;发生火灾，人们die。It’s okay, though, because it doesn’t happen to us or to people we know. As long as it’s happening “over there,” to “them,” it’s just an unfortunateaccident。这news story where fire magically breaks out usually includes a shocked citizen saying, “We never thought it would happen here.”
As fire service专业人士, we can make it clear to people that they live “there.” And so does firepotential。Fire doesn’t discriminate; it happens in houses, condos, apartment buildings, dormitories, cabins, trailers—anywhere peoplelive。It happens to wealthy and nonwealthy families, to college graduates and high school dropouts. Fire doesn’tcarewho you are; it’s opportunistic. It takes advantage of careless behavior—anyone’s careless behavior.
We need to stopacceptingthe fact that fire just happens. We need to stop merely feeling sorry for people who have fires and begin to addaccountabilityto ourreactions。In many countries, people are held responsible when they have fires. They have to pay back the community for the cost of firesuppression。在这里，我们不直接谈论火原因because it might not be politically correct to call out someone’s irresponsiblebehavior。We don’t want to mention that their fire was completelypreventable;it might appear that we’re calling them stupid or blaming them for what happened.
Aresidential fireis a teachable moment, and we should capitalize on it. Go door-to-door during the week after the fire and talk to citizens about it. Explain what happened to them and how they canavoidhaving similar incidents in their own homes. Provide them the fire safetyeducationthat they haven’t received since they were in elementary school.
这U.S. Fire Administrationhas launched a new campaign—one the entire fire service can get behind:火是每个人的战斗。这message is simple: Fire is preventable, and prevention is in everyone’s hands. When we go into the schools and talk to third graders about prevention, fire becomes their fight. When we visit the senior centers and talk about cooking fire safety, fire becomes their fight. The fire service is not alone in this battle against fire. Fire is everyone’s fight!
SO, WHAT CAN YOU DO?
If you are out in your community such as on your way to-or-from a call, out having dinner, or shopping, stop and talk to people. Strike up a conversation with other people at restaurants and events you attend. The topic is especially timely when you’re waiting for someone to cook your food. Ask people if they know that cooking mistakes are the leading cause of home fires and explain how cooking fires start. Ask if they know that the last fire in their community was started by a candle, and tell them about flameless candles. As you’re out-and-about in the neighborhood, talk to people about how their homes are built and how fast fire can spread. Ask if they check their smoke alarms and if they have an exit plan and a meeting place and if they practice that plan. These side conversations, which can take just moments, will impact the people you’re talking to and countless other people they’ll share the information with. (Can you imagine the conversations? “A firefighter started talking to me when I was in line at the hardware store today…”) It’s great public relations for your department that’s likely to bring down the number of preventable fires in your community.
Fire doesn’t break out. Aside from the very few fires caused by Mother Nature, fires are preventable. People don’t need to lose their homes, their jobs, their possessions, their pets, their family members. It doesn’t need to happen. And you don’t want it to happen in your community.
So, what are you doing to ensure that your city isn’t the next one on the news?
Becki Whiteis a Minnesota deputy state fire marshal and a captain in the Eden Prairie (MN)Fire Department。She has a master’s degree in teaching and learning and was an elementary teacher for 12 years. White has combined her passion for education with her knowledge and experience in thefire serviceto become a resource for fire and lifesafetyeducators. White is also the vice president of the North Star Women’sFirefighterAssociation, a nonprofit organization that assists with mentoring, networking, andtrainingwomen in thefire service。
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