Public Invests Donations In Safety Education Van
Staff Correspondent
Photo by Steve Hansen
Public donations made it possible for the Racine, Wis., Fire Department to buy a safety education van, which carries a multimedia program throughout the city and suburbs.
The project, which forged a unique link between the fire department and the community, was undertaken in 1977 by Fire Inspector Dave King, Assistant Chief Frank Reisenauer who heads the fire prevention bureau, and Ronald Chiapete, who became chief that year.
King was also the department’s public information officer. Widely recognized in that field, he was one of the few individuals invited to two successive NFPCA education planning conferences at Airlie, Va.
Need for vehicle
Reisenauer explained, “We got the idea for the audio-visual education program when several of our members were attending college classes at Southern Illinois University. They are heavily into multimedia educational programs down there, and have a good exchange program through the Illinois Fire Marshals Association. If one department has good material, another can easily get a copy of it just by paying the cost of reproducing the slides or tapes.”
Why the van? As King pointed out in his June 1977 proposal, other fire department vehicles had been borrowed to carry the bureau’s props to schools and other demonstration areas. However, it wasn’t always possible to get transportation when it was needed.
More importantly, said King, “the equipment couldn’t be left conveniently stored in the vehicle for the next trip, but had to be unloaded and reloaded every time.” Therefore, he suggested the purchase of a vehicle to be used exclusively for the bureau’s programs.
“Our budget was tight, like everybody else’s,” added Reisenauer, “so we decided to ask some service organization in town to be coordinator of a community fund drive to purchase and equip this vehicle, which would then be donated to the city. Another big reason for doing it this way was to build real community involvement in the fire safety education program.”
He proposed the funding plan to the police fire and safety committee of the Racine Area Chamber of Commerce. After approval by its financial division and board of directors, the chamber worked with King to prepare solicitation letters and choose prospects. Based on King’s estimates and equipment quotations, the required fund was set at $10,000.
Many details remained to be worked out. The Racine City Council had to agree to accept the vehicle and the responsibility for insurance and maintenance.
Vehicle to be used outside city
As the chamber is not confined to Racine, the fire department agreed that in return for the chamber’s cooperation, the vehicle would be available for educational programs outside city limits— principally in the neighboring towns of Mt. Pleasant and Caledonia, and the Village of Sturtevant.
By the end of 1977, 33 contributors had pledged $9000 in sums ranging from $15 to $1000. Among the donors were banks, manufacturers, merchants and labor unions. A 1978 model GMC Vandura was ordered in January 1978 through a local firm for just over $6000.
The solicitation for funds was limited and was suspended as soon as sufficient funds were promised to cover the initial outlay. Although a few organizations conceded the value of fire safety education, they felt that municipal budgets should pay for it. However, the great majority contributed.
Explained Chamber of Commerce President Darrell Wright, “Dave King’s success rate was very high because he was quite selective in his contacts. Also, the business community recognized that there was a real need here.”
In addition to King’s cover letter, prospects received a chamber fact sheet outlining the project and its benefits to both Racine and the surrounding area. Phone calls and personal visits backed up the mailing. Later, the chamber sent all contributors a thank-you letter.
Audio-visual equipment given
The Racine West Rotary Club was among the local service groups asked to support the fund. Rather than make a general contribution, this group decided to underwrite the entire audio-visual equipment purchase for the van—an estimated $4000.
Collections for the Racine County Fire Prevention Education Fund were deposited in an interest-bearing escrow account. A five-man board of trustees was designated to administer the fund, with all members being either present or past officers of the chamber’s police fire and safety committee. Wright and Reisenauer are presently among the trustees.
The committee recognized that replacing materials and equipment would require continuing expenses. Therefore, $2500 was proposed as a minimum level at which to maintain the fund. When the fund dropped to about $700 early this year, the chamber prepared a mailing asking its 500 members for donations of no more than $25.
Fund entirely separate
The fire safety education fund is separate from the fire department budget or any other city fund. It is based entirely on voluntary participation by local citizens.
According to Wright, “We feel our role is one of partnership with the governmental agencies rather than of criticism as it is in some places. There has to be a good rapport between business and the public safety services if we are to get anything done. Here, our committee meets every month with the police and fire chiefs in the area, and in general there is exceptional cooperation.”
After the basic multimedia program was paid for, “The Silent Epidemic,” was purchased in mid-1978 from the Illinois Fire Marshals Association. It was considerably revised to include as many pictures of local fires and fire fighters as possible. Background music was retaped, and programming retimed. The first showing to 77 members of the Rotary Club West was on October 16, 1978.
“They were so impressed by it,” said Inspector Bob Stedman (who took over when Dave King left the department to become fire marshal for a nearby industry) “that they decided to use it as their service project entry in their district meeting at Lake Geneva this year.”
The district includes about 50 Rotary Clubs in southeastern Wisconsin.
By last April, the 13-minute program had been shown to 1500 persons. That month, it was scheduled for half a dozen presentations to such groups as a hospital safety committee, a merchant organization and the Board of Realtors. The showing has also been successful with high school audiences.
Slide program
Except for a short introduction and conclusion, there is no narration. The 230 slides depict many types of fire scenes, burn victims, charts on fire statistics, and the actions of fire fighters on the job. Three screens are used with either front or rear projection possible.
“To start it off,” explained Stedman, “you just push the button. The programmer unit responds to pulses on the tape recording, which automatically cycle the projectors at the right times. Periodically there are clues to tell the operator if anything gets out of synch. Afterward, we can take everything down and pack it into the van in 15 minutes.”
Wooden racks and shelves for the audio-visual equipment have been installed in the vehicle by the fire department’s carpenter.
Total cost of that equipment package was $3475. That included four Kodak Ektagraphic AF-2 slide projectors; three Welt Safe-Lock stands; the Wollensak 2551AV tape player/recorder; a speaker; one large screen (three smaller ones have since been purchased); and two control units by Spindler & Sauppe. One is the model 2031 programmer which coordinates the projectors with the tape. The other is a model 1032 dissolver.
The van is used to carry more than just this one outfit. “Sparky” and other materials used in grade school fire safety presentations are also transported. During 1978, the bureau made 563 presentations, reaching 5747 adults and 16,740 children—nearly 25 percent of Racine’s population.
Outreach extensive
In keeping with the area-wide basis of the Chamber of Commerce fund, however, the van and its messages reach well beyond city boundaries.
Reisenauer commented, “So far we have been able to meet all the requests for our services. The only proviso by the Racine Fire Department is that at least one of our people go with the van because technically it is city property.”
Added Stedman, “We were recently in Waterford, and Union Grove will probably want us to come there soon.”
Are the presentations effective? In answer, Stedman produced a letter from the nearby Sturtevant Fire Department, written only three weeks earlier, about a dwelling fire from which half a dozen family members escaped safely. The hero of the fire was a nine-year-old who just two weeks before had witnessed a Racine Fire Department home safety program in his third-grade classroom.
“He was deeply influenced by this,” wrote Sturtevant officials, “and left with a definite plan of action in case of fire. He gave the alarm, then got his younger brother to stay low and crawl to get out of the house.”
“These programs emphasize escape, giving the alarm, crawling in smoke, and the stop, drop, and roll handling of clothing fires, Stedman explained. In the Unified School District here, 75 percent of the children know more about fire safety and prevention than their parents do. The kids are being reached. What we’re trying to do is get them to go home and talk with their parents.”
Weekly radio program
In the fall of 1978, the Racine Fire Department also began presenting a half-hour weekly radio show Tuesday mornings on WRJN.
Said Chief Chiapete, “Last winter we stressed the benefits of smoke detectors. We can’t prove how much good it did, but we know that area sales of smoke detectors have since tripled. In the spring, we talked about cleanup. We have had guest speakers in, even critiqued fires, especially one last December in which there was a fatality. The bureau decides on the program emphasis, working only a few weeks ahead so that information is timely.”
A twice-monthly fire safety column in a local weekly newspaper also helps reach area residents.
Getting the community behind the fire prevention effort is a major challenge for the fire service. The Chamber of Commerce education fund is the latest of many ways in which Racine is meeting that challenge.