The Round Table
departments
Does your department provide any type of emergency medical service for the people you serve? If so, just what type of service is it? And how is this service funded (taxes, fund raising, etc.?)
Bob Delgado, Fire Marshal, San Jose, Ca.: Fire department cutbacks, due to Proposition 13, have severely affected California fire departments and their ability to reach the public. Prior to Proposition 13, our department employed three full-time personnel assigned to satisfy the fire prevention educational needs for a city of 600,000. These positions were eliminated in June 1979. With an obvious need and no funds, we moved forward with a volunteer speakers bureau.
The Volunteer Speakers Bureau was conceived because the demand and need for public education is constantly on the increase. A list of volunteers from the firefighting ranks was established to make various types of presentations to larger groups at locations away from the fire station.
Although the speakers bureau is working well, it does have some negative aspects. Those requesting a speaker must realize we are utilizing manpower from the fireline. If the company is short of manpower on the scheduled day of the presentation or is engaged in firefighting duties at an incident, the speaker may have to cancel or simply not appear at the engagement.
The speakers are compensated for their transportation costs and their efforts are reflected in their periodic performance evaluations.
John Garcia, Inspector, Jackson, N.J.: In Fire District No. 3 of Jackson Township, we feel that public fire education is of the utmost importance. The fire prevention office carries out the education throughout the year, not just during Fire Prevention Week. We go out on speaking engagements to all organizations in the township. The organizations can and generally do pick the topic that they would like to hear about. We try never to present the same program to an organization more than once.
We are, at present, trying to institute the Learn Not To Burn program into our school system. Our district contains three elementary schools and we try to be visible in them at least four times per school year. Programs are presented, posters are hung throughout the schools, and the students are given handouts to take home and show their parents.
Cable television has recently begun in our district and the plans have been made to start a weekly half-hour program. We are looking for anyone that has any information on this type of program and would be willing to share it with us. We feel that by accomplishing a program of this nature, we would not only reach the children, but their parents as well.
Robert E. Bernard, Sr., Deputy Chief, Brunswick, Me.: We have had a fire prevention educational program since the conception of the bureau. This is an ongoing program in the school system during the school year, from kindergarten through the fifth grade level. Taking material from the Junior Fire Marshall program, Sparky and Smokey the Bear, hand outs are made up depicting the various messages we would like delivered.
The department has put on a wood burning seminar for the adults in the area last fall which was received very well. Also, lectures and slide presentations were given to groups and civic organizations.
The success of our public education has shown in our drastically reduced fire losses within the town. My feelings are that codes, in itself, could not account for our outstanding records. We are proving that fire prevention is a major part of the fire delivery system.
Patches Anyone?
Joey Infantino, honorary chief of the Rochester Fire Department and Monroe County poster child for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, is an avid collecter of fire department patches. He has 35 to date, but is always looking for more. Anyone wishing to add to Joey’s collection can contact him at 51 Backus St., Rochester, N.Y. 14608.
