Your organization has total control over the media, right? When you send out a press release, local reporters always use the information, show up at your events and disseminate your message, right? Your organization receives daily positive TV coverage that sends fire safety educational messages into the homes of citizens, right?

Most fire chiefs and public information officers know that the answer to these questions is a definite “no.” Under ideal conditions in a utopian world, the above scenarios would be common, but we all know better.

If you can't control the TV stations, why not create your own! This can be done by taking advantage of the government-access privileges that most communities establish in their contracts with cable television providers. By controlling their televised presence, fire departments can create positive media coverage, and they can do so without creating a huge budget deficit or drain on personnel time, especially if they partner with other organizations to share the costs of production and equipment.

Government-access television can be a low-cost delivery method for public education and other informational messages from fire departments, especially when partnering with another public safety agency. In Greeley, Colo., we have created a monthly public safety TV program called Greeley Code 4 through a partnership with the Union Colony Fire-Rescue Authority, the Greeley Police Department and the City of Greeley's public information office.

Gather components

Most communities with a contracted cable television utility provider will have a provision in the agreement for a government-access channel. Typically, communities use the channel to broadcast local city council or town board meetings. When these meetings aren't taking place, the channel is “dead.” This down time is your open door.

The first step to creating your own TV program is to find out if such a channel exists in your local system. If there isn't one, you may want to get involved the next time your city negotiates its agreement with the cable TV utility provider.

Finding TV production equipment is the next step in creating a program. Although production equipment is very expressive, the broadcast of local government meetings means that there's equipment available. Wouldn't it be more cost-effective if that expensive TV equipment were used more than once or twice per week?

Ask the people responsible for these tapings and broadcasts if they would like to put that equipment to another use by providing a valuable information service to the citizens of the community. The government-access channel benefits by adding new programming that provides important information for viewers when the channel isn't otherwise being used.

If they're willing and able, it may be possible to work out an agreement that defines such details as the reimbursement of camera operator labor costs, editing time and supplies.In addition to providing technical expertise in filming and editing, these people also can assist with scripts, ideas and, most importantly, feedback from a civilian's perspective. They can tell you what topics the general public may find interesting and what safety messages they would find helpful. They also can help keep jargon in check, ensuring the material is understandable for the layperson.

Bringing other public safety organizations into the partnership will provide even more benefits, financial and otherwise. By bringing a third agency into the partnership, in our case the police department, overall production expenses for were cut in half. The police department was interested in creating a TV program for the same reasons as the fire department: It's an inexpensive way to relay public information and educational safety messages to the public. As equal financial partners, we try to split the content of the show as evenly as possible.

An added benefit from forging the partnership and producing our TV program has been an improved relationship between the two agencies. Because of the program, the community and members of each organization tend to view the fire and police departments as a team with a common goal of public safety.

Star search

So who gets to be the TV star? Fire departments often have many members who are very comfortable with public speaking. Fire personnel give tours, present public-education demonstrations, and teach classes to both citizens and other fire department members. Each of these tasks is similar to delivering a presentation for a camera, so it should be relatively easy to find your on-air talent from within your organization, which will help keep down costs.

One way to determine your talent is to hold auditions to see who's interested and who's comfortable in front of a camera. Some people are camera-friendly, and others just aren't. Don't expect news anchor perfection early on, as it does take time to build confidence and comfort when talking to a camera.

Once your equipment and talent have been secured, you need to write scripts based on the messages that your organization wants to deliver. There are many fire service topics that are interesting to the general public, but you can't go wrong by highlighting each of your public-education programs.Timely events, such as an emergency incident that's received a lot of media attention, also can provide programming topics. Such events can be tied in to a local situation or turned into a prevention or safety message. Still photographs or video taken at a recent incident can become an interesting story to relay to the community that also imparts a prevention message.

Remember to keep each episode relatively simple and short. In our experience, fire service personnel tend to get bogged down in details and jargon, which doesn't make for “good TV.” Present the topic as a brochure rather than as a story or novel.

With everything in place, you can tape your program. We do all of our videotaping during our talent personnel's on-duty time to keep costs to a minimum. Of course, this requires us to stay flexible because the inevitable call requires the services of our talent. Taping at various locations, especially fire stations, helps keep the program interesting. The public feels as if they're getting a behind-the-scenes look.

After taping, the program can be edited and broadcast. This is where the partnership with an established government-access channel staff is very important because they have the equipment and expertise to create the finished product. You'll also need to work with them to create a broadcast schedule. Our program is broadcast twice each day, six days per week, with the times varying depending on the day of the week.

Broad reach

One of the lessons we've learned is to start small. Produce your program without worrying about how long it is. Our first program was seven minutes. To hold people's interest, we recommend a length under 30 minutes, but don't worry about trying to fill a certain block of time. One of the great things about being on government-access TV is that you can start a program at a given time but end it whenever you want.

Overall, the feedback we've received on our government-access program has been very positive. We've experienced buy-in from our organization's members, who regularly suggest new segments and creative ways to present material. Citizens enjoy seeing familiar people and locations, and they appreciate that the educational messages are tailored to the community.

If you're looking for a new way to get fire and life-safety messages to your community, consider government-access television. Using existing government-access channels and equipment while partnering with other public safety agencies is a cost-effective way to have total control over the content and message of a TV broadcast. You'll be delivering public-education messages while building support and enhancing your organization's public image, without the worry of what will wind up on the editing room floor.

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Dale Lyman is the emergency management battalion chief for Union Colony Fire-Rescue Authority in Greeley, Colo. He is an NFPA-certified fire protection specialist.