Around dinnertime in Camden City, N.J., as families gathered for the evening, a fire truck arrived at one neighborhood home. But this time the truck is bringing good news. Instead of fighting flames, these local firefighters are helping to prevent them by checking the home for potential fire hazards, with the help of Safe Kids Camden — Gloucester County.

With funding from a USFA-sponsored grant awarded to the National Safe Kids Campaign, the members of the Camden — Gloucester County, N.J., chapter implemented a tailor-made program for children with hearing impairments. While all children need protection from a fire in the home, children with hearing loss are at an obvious disadvantage. Many are unable to detect conventional smoke alarms or other sounds, such as their parents' shouts, that might alert them to danger.

The coalition identified at least 145 children in their community with moderate to profound hearing loss. They also found that the majority of these families couldn't afford the more expensive smoke alarms their children need. So in addition to offering the fire safety inspections and education, the program provides each family that meets financial guidelines with free, specially designed smoke alarms for the hearing impaired and installs them free of charge.

A prosperous partnership

So far Safe Kids Camden — Gloucester County and local firefighters have provided fire safety inspections for more than 100 families with hearing-impaired children. But they are just one of the more than 500 coalitions and chapters of the the National Safe Kids Campaign that for the last 12 years have been working hard to keep families safe from the devastating effects of fire.

This is just a one example of how the support of sponsors like the USFA and manufacturer First Alert have helped Safe Kids coalitions, with their firefighter and EMS members, distribute more than 100,000 smoke alarms, conduct countless community fire prevention events and activities, and strengthen smoke alarm laws in numerous states and localities — all contributing to a documented 56% decline in residential fire-related deaths from 1987 to 1998.

Even with these successes, there is still more work to be done. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and USFA expanded their support of Safe Kids by awarding the campaign with noncompetitive grant funds from the 2001 FIRE Act. This generous award has given the campaign the opportunity to offer three levels of grants to nearly 70 Safe Kids coalitions throughout the country.

Level I grant recipients will partner with local fire departments to develop, implement and evaluate multifaceted fire prevention programs for high-risk communities over a two-year period.

Level II grantees will focus on communities at high risk and conduct interventions to reduce fire hazards to children over a one-year period through a combination of education, safety device distribution and legislation.

Level III grant recipients will identify communities at high risk and conduct interventions to support and strengthen new or existing coalition programs such as the purchase and distribution of smoke alarms, dissemination of fire safety education materials, maintenance of fire safety trailers, or participation in community education events.

Get involved

Grants such as these have helped chapters like Safe Kids Baltimore keep hard at work, using funds to teach children in schools how to educate their parents at home.

From 1991 to 1999, the city lost 114 children in house fires. Many of these children died in homes without functioning smoke alarms, and many of the fires were started when families whose power had been shut off due to lack of funds used candles and other means to heat and light their homes.

The Baltimore City Fire Department, part of the local Safe Kids coalition, already had several resources in place to prevent these fire hazards. They installed smoke alarms in any home free of charge. The city also had a large fund to prevent power shut-offs for families in need. However, many families didn't know about these resources, and Safe Kids discovered that many of the local elementary schools had never offered a fire prevention education program.

To address these problems, Safe Kids Baltimore used funds from a USFA fire prevention grant to initiate a pilot education program in Baltimore elementary schools. Partnering with firefighters from the Baltimore City Fire Department, Safe Kids targeted second- and third-graders in five schools in low-income areas throughout the city.

The program's most effective component was its “Inspector Detector” fire safety checklist. Children were instructed to take this form home and complete it with an adult who could help point out potential fire hazards and review safety rules. Once they returned their completed forms, each child received a bag of fire safety goodies, including a fire inspector badge. Their parents received Safe Kids fire prevention and safety brochures and emergency phone number magnets, which were also labeled with the Fuel Fund Assistance Hotline phone number. Coalition members then reviewed the returned forms to determine if any of the families needed smoke alarms and submitted requests to the fire department.

Hundreds of volunteers

Safe Kids coalitions work year-round to prevent fire-related deaths among kids, but their efforts also include work to prevent all other unintentional injuries to children. Programs include:

• National Safe Kids Week, which includes a new theme each year with safety device giveaways, public education and media support.

• Safe Kids Buckle Up, which includes child safety-seat checks, child passenger safety training, educational materials, and media support.

• Safe Kids Walk This Way, which includes participation in International Walk to School Day, task forces and public education efforts.

• Safe Kids at Home, which includes home inspections, training in child-proofing, and device giveaways.

From distributing bike helmets and car seats to low-income families, to advocating for personal flotation device laws and child-proofing homes, every day members of state and local Safe Kids coalitions are doing this vitally important work, and most do in addition to their everyday duties as firefighters, doctors, police officers, nurses, community health educators and, most importantly, parents.

More than 90% of our Safe Kids coalitions include firefighters as members. These firefighters participate in every aspect of the Safe Kids agenda, installing not only smoke alarms, but car seats; educating kids about fire safety, but also pedestrian and bike safety. The opportunities for fire departments to partner with and assist Safe Kids coalitions are endless.

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Lani Poblete is a publicist for the National Safe Kids Campaign and is based at their headquarters in Washington, D.C. For further information on the coalition and its programs, visit the Safe Kids Web site at www.safekids.org or write to: The National Safe Kids Campaign, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Suite 1000, Washington, D.C. 20004.

Why fire departments should join

The National Safe Kids Campaign strongly urges all fire departments to become actively involved in their state or local Safe Kids coalition. Benefits of becoming a Safe Kids coalition member include access to:

• Discounted safety devices, including child safety seats, smoke alarms, bike helmets and more.
• Educational materials, including posters, brochures and promotional items.
• Technical assistance, including an annual training conference in Washington, D.C., on fund-raising, coalition-building, media support and public policy efforts.
• Grants to conduct childhood injury prevention activities.

In Albuquerque, N.M., firefighter Frank Barka of the Bernalillo County Fire Department, which leads the local Safe Kids coalition, was awarded funds from the campaign's founding sponsor Johnson & Johnson to host a helmet safety event during National Safe Kids Week. In keeping with the theme, “Use Your Head, Wear A Helmet!” he used his grant to hold an event at the local skateboard park where kids learned about skating safety and the importance of wearing helmets. He also received free educational brochures in Spanish and English and fun puzzles designed to teach kids about riding safely. He received 375 free Bell bike helmets to distribute to children throughout the community.

In Columbia, Mo., Bttn. Chief Steve Sapp helps make children's local walk to school a little safer. Sapp is the coordinator for Safe Kids Columbia, which is led by the Columbia Fire Department. Through the campaign's “Walk This Way” program, his coalition educates drivers, parents and children about pedestrian safety issues. Thanks to a $2,000 grant from the national campaign and program sponsor FedEx, Sapp and his coalition have a pedestrian safety task force hard at work developing and implementing short- and long-term solutions to hazardous pedestrian environments across the city.

In Tucson, Ariz., Bttn. Chief Randy Ogden is one of 51 coalition coordinators who received a Chevy Venture Mobile Car Seat Checkup Van in 2000. Courtesy of National Safe Kids and its General Motors/United Auto Workers — sponsored “Buckle Up” program, the van comes equipped with all the resources needed to host child safety-seat checkup events in convenient community locations. Randy also receives support in the form of grants, educational materials, public service announcements and ongoing assistance from the campaign's technical staff.