A national survey polling the range of fire and life-safety education activities of U.S. fire departments is being conducted by the Home Safety Council, in partnership with many other national organizations and the help of researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Findings of the first-of-its-kind survey, “Fire and Life Safety Public Education in U.S. Fire Departments,” will be used to identify resource and training needs of fire and life safety educators.

Preliminary survey results will be shared at a national conference hosted by the Home Safety Council. The All-Ways Fire Safe at Home Conference: Best Practices in Fire and Life Safety Education will be held Jan. 10-12, 2007, in Washington, D.C. The conference is planned to bring together fire and life-safety educators from around the country to share best practices in home fire and burn safety education. Open registration will be available until Dec. 1. To learn more, visit the Home Safety Council Web site.

Survey participants were selected randomly from a sample of more than 30,000 fire departments throughout the United States using the National Directory of Fire Chiefs and EMS Administrators. The goal of the surveyors is to obtain a sample that represents fire departments by geographic region, population served and department type. The Home Safety Council requests all fire departments that have received a survey form, but have not yet completed and returned it, to do so as soon as possible. Survey respondents who complete the survey by its stated deadline will be eligible to win one of 10 scholarships to send a fire and life-safety educator to the January 2007 conference