Since 1993, the Home Safety Council has been working across the United States with one simple goal in mind: making homes safer. The council is no stranger to fire departments. It was a funding partner with the NFPA in the development of the comprehensive injury prevention curriculum Risk Watch, and for the past three years it has been a major supporter of Fire Prevention Week. Founded by Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse, the national council became an independent charitable organization with 501c3 status last year. As it marks its 10th anniversary, the Home Safety Council also undertakes another significant transition. Former NFPA Vice President for Public Education Meri-K Appy took the reins as president and executive director of the council on March 1.

FC: Was this a major change for you after NFPA?

Appy: It's actually the best of both worlds. I was a member of the NFPA and a volunteer for many years before I joined the organization as an employee, and I fully intend to stay involved in a variety of ways. While at NFPA I was a charter member of the Home Safety Council's Board of Directors and served as an officer, so the council is an organization I also know very well. In this new role I have the good fortune of continuing to work with many of the fire and life-safety advocates and public health and injury prevention professionals I've known for 20 years, as well as meeting new people and forging new relationships within the research, scientific and practitioner communities.

FC: Will your background in fire safety affect the Home Safety Council's interaction with the fire service?

Appy: Any good injury prevention program must include the input and active participation of first responders. The Home Safety Council has reached out to the fire service since its start, and I hope to see even greater interplay in the future. We have the knowledge and appreciation that first responders are doing far more than putting out fires. They also are there in the aftermath of poisonings, falls, drowning, pedestrian and motor-vehicle injuries, and virtually every other community emergency. It just makes sense that these same people who are committed to caring for the injured will also want to be part of the planning and programming to help prevent those injuries in the first place. We need and welcome their expertise and viewpoint.

The first responder community has a long history of useful and active teamwork with fire safety and all kinds of injury prevention initiatives around the country. We're trying to grow the relationship we have with fire and emergency service providers even more, because we see them as integral to our ability to achieve our mission. But we know it needs to be a win-win arrangement to be truly successful, so they'll see the council working even harder to meet their expectations.

FC: How will you develop the relationship?

Appy: I hope in many different ways as time goes on. For the near term, we're seeking new paths to reinforce their roles, not just in their own communities, but in the broader prevention arena. We're honing the council's role as a resource to them. And we're also looking for ways to illuminate the good work that they do.

The Safety Education Heroes Award is one example of that. We teamed up last year with the Congressional Fire Services Institute and the NFPA to establish a way to demonstrate the nation's appreciation for the fire and life-safety educators who work to prevent fire and other injuries. The inaugural award was just presented to Lt. Bruce Young from Palm Beach County, Fla., at CFSI's Fire and Emergency Services Dinner in Washington, D.C. I'm really pleased with this new award because, as I said when I presented it at the dinner, I know of no other national fire service award for work in prevention education that provides the opportunity for recognition among such a large number of their peers. It's our hope that the award will be an added incentive to the educators who have the tough job of counting the incidents that don't occur.

But they need more than recognition. They need help. One of the most creative partnerships with the fire service has been the Lowe's Heroes program, co-facilitated with the Home Safety Council. Last year, 97% of Lowe's stores took part in a community safety project logging thousands of hours of volunteer work dedicated to making families and homes safer. Although the teams work with many local groups, their most logical partner in the community is the fire service.

I believe that armed with adequate resources, there's no public safety advocate more powerful than firefighters. But this is a time when resources are scarce, so fire departments are going to look to organizations like the Home Safety Council to put a stake in the ground and say, “We're here to help.” I'm committed to doing that.