Oklahoma City was besieged by the media immediately following the 1995 Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing and then again to some extent with the F5 tornado in 1999.

Because the bombing was the largest-ever terrorist attack at that point, we faced incredible challenges. The now-famous scene with Connie Chung will be remembered for years to come. However, for the most part, everything went smoothly with the media because of the excellent working relationship we already had in place.

Working closely with the public is essential for the success of today's fire department. We rely on each other. Firefighters provide vital rescue and emergency services that protect the public and their property; the public provides the funds we use to operate. In Oklahoma City, we learned that the more the public understands about what we do and how we do it, the better.

We learned this the hard way, but fortunately we learned it before the Murrah Federal Building bombing.

Those who can, teach

Like many departments, Oklahoma City has an established public education section. When it was established, its principal function was to work on developing public awareness of potential hazards, focusing mostly on fire prevention. After an unsuccessful attempt to pass a penny sales tax to underwrite necessary expansion of our department, we came to realize there was a need for increased public understanding of what the department does and how we work.

There is an old adage: You must walk a mile in someone else's shoes to truly understand them. Well, we took this proverb and expanded it. If you climb a few stories in a smoky building in a firefighter's gear, then you will have a lot more understanding of what firefighters face. The need for good protective gear, high-tech equipment and exercise programs becomes much more obvious. They are not extravagances; they're essential.

We reached this level of understanding with the media using a program called “Welcome to Our World,” an expanded version of the Phoenix Fire Department's Certified Journalist Academy.

We spent time with members of the media, acquainting them with the terminology we use and with some of the basics. They were outfitted in about 40 pounds of full gear and taken through a smoke-filled training. After a couple of hours, they had a very different perspective on what a firefighter does. We also invited reporters to go on ride-alongs.

By working with reporters, we were able to spread the word about how important the fire department services are with feature stories. The coverage we received was more extensive and more effective that what we could do on our own.

This media program was so successful that we started a citizens academy for us to work with interested members of the public a few hours a week over several weeks. Naturally, this program increased public understanding for those who actively participated. But more importantly, we found it also increased our capacity to reach more people after citizens academy “graduates” became active supporters and started helping with many of our public education programs. Having the people we serve speak on our behalf gave us more coverage, as well as a unique type of testimonial that was very useful.

Pub-ed anywhere

We also learned to turn many of our regular functions into public education opportunities.

We empowered our first-line firefighters, outfitting each station and apparatus with a small amount of support pieces, such as brochures, flyers, hand-outs, and other promotional items like decals or refrigerator magnets. When our firefighters went grocery shopping or made inspection visits, they also would serve in public-education mode and circulate information and good will. We encouraged firefighters to become active in community activities, such as the school reading programs.

We also made the public more welcome in the fire stations themselves. For example, we allowed the public to use the fire stations for appropriate meetings and community block parties, in addition to holding reading programs on site and conducting CPR training and blood-pressure checks. For a department with limited funds, this made a big impact.

Then, we went a step further, training many of our firefighters to speak with the media on the scene of an incident. Of course, we continued to use our official PIO for major incidents and major events.

With our increased outreach, we experienced more involvement from the media and the public, which led to successfully passing the penny sales tax. We now consider this an important ongoing program to maintain close working relationships with the media and the public.

The increased interaction with the media and the public also has been very helpful during large-scale disasters. Having an existing structure and relationship with the media improved the way we all worked together to get the necessary jobs done.

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Before he retired from the Oklahoma City Fire Department, Asst. Chief Jon Hansen earned an international reputation as the “voice of Oklahoma City” after his highly visible and successful on- and off-camera work with the media and the public following the 1995 Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing and the 1999 F5 tornado that tore through the city. Hansen shared both command team and PIO duties during both events.