By Tom Kiurski
As October rolls around, the falling leaves and crisp air signify only one thing: Halloween. Halloween traditions go back many years in history; a long history of injuries also accompanies Halloween celebrations in this country.
You can build better citizen relations and put your department at the forefront of childhood injury prevention efforts by reminding your community of some of the common safety tips to be followed during this period. Some ways to pass along this type of information include:
- Air Halloween safety rules on the city channels that provide community information to your citizens.These tips can run continuously from the day you send them over until Halloween. You can also consider making a Halloween Safety Public Service Announcement (PSA) to be run on your cable channel. I have seen many types of PSA’s over the years, from Fire Department members in uniform giving tips, to members dressed up in costumes in order to make their appearances more memorable.
- Write an article on Halloween safety to run in your local newspaper.One of the things I mentioned in my article this year is to have families with younger children visithttp://www.halloweenmagazine.comand play the “Halloween Safety Game.” This question-and-answer game gives “congratulations” for right answers, and prompts for the correct response if the answer is wrong. Another good site for parents ishttp://www.halloween-safety.com. This site has several pages of safety information for citizens to review (and it’s a good place for us to get information for our articles and PSAs).
- Do something innovative and fun.The “Halloween USA” shop in Livonia, MI agreed to pay for the printing of Halloween “trading cards. The back lists Halloween safety tips while the front shows a photograph of our newest fire engine in front of the store (situated so that the name of the store is prominently displayed). We then decorated the truck with props from the store, such as snakes, spiders and skulls. A few of the employees agreed to dress up for the shot, so that made it even more appealing. The store has agreed to hand the cards out to customers with their purchases or for the asking, and we will keep a supply on our fire trucks to give out to tour groups we encounter.
A good dose of common sense is all that is needed to keep your community safe on Halloween, but don’t wait until the excitement of the day arrives to pass along safety reminders. Plan your attack well in advance to reach as much of the community as possible.
Tom Kiurski is a lieutenant, a paramedic, and the director of fire safety education for Livonia (MI) Fire & Rescue. His book,Creating a Fire-Safe Community: A Guide for Fire Safety Educators(Fire Engineering, 1999) is a guide for bringing the safety message to all segments of the community efficiently and economically.
