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13 December 2024
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Featured FRI Magazine article: Fire prevention strategies: The importance of reliable data by Rodney Eksteen (FRI Vol 2 no 12)
Conducting a risk assessment can be as simple as asking fire fighters where they most frequently respond
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ArcGIS provides a system for fire services and EMS that supports all elements of the service including administration, planning, prevention, preparedness and response.
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https://www.frimedia.org/uploads/1/2/2/7/122743954/fri-vol-2-no-11_web.pdf
This week’s featured Fire and Rescue International magazine article is: Fire prevention strategies: The importance of reliable data written by Rodney Eksteen (FRI Vol 2 no 12). We will be sharing more technical/research/tactical articles from Fire and Rescue International magazine on a weekly basis with our readers to assist in technology transfer. This will hopefully create an increased awareness, providing you with hands-on advice and guidance. All our magazines are available free of charge in PDF format on our website and online at ISSUU. We also provide all technical articles as a free download in our article archive on our website.
Fire prevention strategies: The importance of reliable data
By Rodney Eksteen
Fire services do not have all the resources to individually solve the many different fire problems in the communities that they serve. A fire service can be more effective by targeting one or two major problems and then dedicating the available resources to those specific problems. By thoroughly analysing the local fire and injury problems, interventions and target areas can be prioritised to ensure that the limited available resources are used for the most urgent problems. This approach also increases the probability of success by addressing fewer problems rather than many. In addition, having a good understanding of the relevant causal data and target audiences help to guide the development of intervention programmes.
An all too common approach is to develop or implement a fire prevention programme that we think will work and that is not ‘evidence based’. How often do we practice the ‘shotgun approach’ of public fire prevention education? By going out into a community and using a blanket approach to ‘educate’ the population on fire safe practices, without knowing what the circumstances are surrounding the problem in that particular community. This approach is often ineffective and wastes valuable time that could have been used to identify the ‘real’ problems.
Identifying the local fire problems
Identifying the most prevalent fire risks before developing and implementing fire prevention programmes intended to mitigate that risk should be a continuous part of fire prevention planning. Conducting a risk assessment can be as simple as asking fire fighters where they most frequently respond. What they frequently responded to in the past is often what they are likely to respond to in the future. Therefore, we should be implementing interventions proactively to prevent that. Done at the station level, these kinds of risk assessments can be incredibly valuable to identify high risk areas, times, population groups and behaviours. Prevention strategies can then be implemented to mitigate that particularly fire risk far more effectively.
There are many ways to obtain the information necessary to identify the most common fire problems. The National Injury Mortality Surveillance System (NIMMS) for example, is a very useful national resource for identification of fire related deaths. Similarly, the Fire Protection Association of Southern Africa has useful national data on the various types of common causes of fire. Local data obtained directly from the community can also be very successful in pinpointing local fire problems.
Targeting public fire education programmes in this way is highly recommended as the identification of specific fire problems is the first step toward an effective solution. The quality of information available can vary; however, the following categories of information should be obtained from various sources in order to improve ‘situational awareness’ on the fire problem:
Identify the fire hazards
Records from incident reports, local hospitals and ambulance services, the mortuary covering the area and insurance data will all help the fire safety educator to determine the local fire hazards. This information is important because it can identify the specific local patterns and trends of fires that should be addressed by the public education programme. Case studies from abroad have shown that the identification phase of a fire education project is essential in order to establish the most common causes of fire and then develop and implement appropriate interventions accordingly. For example, one study revealed hazards such as bad wiring and overloaded circuits in a community. Those responsible for the fire prevention programme focused their community education and risk reduction efforts on electrical problems, resulting in a reduction of fire losses by 50 percent. In another community where young fire setters were among the main causes of fire, the local fire department set up a successful counselling programme with community psychologists that significantly reduced the instances of related fires.
When the most important local fire hazards are identified, a programme can be directed toward these specific problems with a higher probability of achieving measurable success.
Main points
• Locate records showing causes of fires.
• Select most frequent causes of fires.
• Determine local patterns of fires.
Identify high risk locations
In identifying high risk locations, it is helpful to remember that these locations can be neighbourhoods or building occupancy types with high fire rates (the number of fire per capita) or high fire incidence (the absolute number of fires). National data clearly show that the occurrence of fire fatalities are located in residential properties such as private dwellings. Certain neighbourhoods can be ‘high risk’ in terms of fire dangers. This is especially true in urban areas where deterioration has occurred over time.
These neighbourhoods or communities can be identified by plotting the fire incidents on a map. Tools such as ESRI’s ArkGIS are often used by many municipalities’ geographic information systems’ (GIS) specialists to track this kind of data.
This week’s featured Fire and Rescue International magazine article is: Fire prevention strategies: The importance of reliable data written by Rodney Eksteen (FRI Vol 2 no 12). We will be sharing more technical/research/tactical articles from Fire and Rescue International magazine on a weekly basis with our readers to assist in technology transfer. This will hopefully create an increased awareness, providing you with hands-on advice and guidance. All our magazines are available free of charge in PDF format on our website and online at ISSUU. We also provide all technical articles as a free download in our article archive on our website.
Fire prevention strategies: The importance of reliable data
By Rodney Eksteen
Fire services do not have all the resources to individually solve the many different fire problems in the communities that they serve. A fire service can be more effective by targeting one or two major problems and then dedicating the available resources to those specific problems. By thoroughly analysing the local fire and injury problems, interventions and target areas can be prioritised to ensure that the limited available resources are used for the most urgent problems. This approach also increases the probability of success by addressing fewer problems rather than many. In addition, having a good understanding of the relevant causal data and target audiences help to guide the development of intervention programmes.
An all too common approach is to develop or implement a fire prevention programme that we think will work and that is not ‘evidence based’. How often do we practice the ‘shotgun approach’ of public fire prevention education? By going out into a community and using a blanket approach to ‘educate’ the population on fire safe practices, without knowing what the circumstances are surrounding the problem in that particular community. This approach is often ineffective and wastes valuable time that could have been used to identify the ‘real’ problems.
Identifying the local fire problems
Identifying the most prevalent fire risks before developing and implementing fire prevention programmes intended to mitigate that risk should be a continuous part of fire prevention planning. Conducting a risk assessment can be as simple as asking fire fighters where they most frequently respond. What they frequently responded to in the past is often what they are likely to respond to in the future. Therefore, we should be implementing interventions proactively to prevent that. Done at the station level, these kinds of risk assessments can be incredibly valuable to identify high risk areas, times, population groups and behaviours. Prevention strategies can then be implemented to mitigate that particularly fire risk far more effectively.
There are many ways to obtain the information necessary to identify the most common fire problems. The National Injury Mortality Surveillance System (NIMMS) for example, is a very useful national resource for identification of fire related deaths. Similarly, the Fire Protection Association of Southern Africa has useful national data on the various types of common causes of fire. Local data obtained directly from the community can also be very successful in pinpointing local fire problems.
Targeting public fire education programmes in this way is highly recommended as the identification of specific fire problems is the first step toward an effective solution. The quality of information available can vary; however, the following categories of information should be obtained from various sources in order to improve ‘situational awareness’ on the fire problem:
Identify the fire hazards
Records from incident reports, local hospitals and ambulance services, the mortuary covering the area and insurance data will all help the fire safety educator to determine the local fire hazards. This information is important because it can identify the specific local patterns and trends of fires that should be addressed by the public education programme. Case studies from abroad have shown that the identification phase of a fire education project is essential in order to establish the most common causes of fire and then develop and implement appropriate interventions accordingly. For example, one study revealed hazards such as bad wiring and overloaded circuits in a community. Those responsible for the fire prevention programme focused their community education and risk reduction efforts on electrical problems, resulting in a reduction of fire losses by 50 percent. In another community where young fire setters were among the main causes of fire, the local fire department set up a successful counselling programme with community psychologists that significantly reduced the instances of related fires.
When the most important local fire hazards are identified, a programme can be directed toward these specific problems with a higher probability of achieving measurable success.
Main points
• Locate records showing causes of fires.
• Select most frequent causes of fires.
• Determine local patterns of fires.
Identify high risk locations
In identifying high risk locations, it is helpful to remember that these locations can be neighbourhoods or building occupancy types with high fire rates (the number of fire per capita) or high fire incidence (the absolute number of fires). National data clearly show that the occurrence of fire fatalities are located in residential properties such as private dwellings. Certain neighbourhoods can be ‘high risk’ in terms of fire dangers. This is especially true in urban areas where deterioration has occurred over time.
These neighbourhoods or communities can be identified by plotting the fire incidents on a map. Tools such as ESRI’s ArkGIS are often used by many municipalities’ geographic information systems’ (GIS) specialists to track this kind of data.
Identifying high risk locations using maps and software applications such as GIS help to prioritise prevention interventions
In addition to fire problems identified in high risk locations, associated social issues must also be considered, such as extreme poverty. Flexibility, cooperation and partnerships with other departments and organisations will help fire safety educators achieve their mission.
Main points
Identify high risk times
Fire dangers increase at certain times of the day, week and year and can also be ‘seasonal’. Local fire safety educators should identify these high risk times, then coordinate interventions that will alert people to high risk times of fire danger. When it comes to wildfire, the Fire Danger Index (FDI) is often used to inform communities and the public of the increased risk during ‘red’ days.
The traffic department is a good example of using knowledge about high risk times. When schools are located near high risk spots for pedestrian accidents, traffic vehicles are dispatched to these intersections where children that have to walk home from school in the afternoon. A traffic officer guides school children across the road reducing the likelihood of a traffic related injury to young children. Similarly, during dry spells, certain fire departments dispatch an apparatus to strategic places when school is dismissed in the afternoon. This action has been known to cut down on bush fire incidents that are often started by children on their way home from school.
Main points
• Identify times of day, week or year with highest fire loss incidence.
• Identify types of fires occurring at these times.
• Plan to concentrate fire safety messages during these times.
Identify high risk populations
Fire is more hazardous to some people than to others. The very young, the very old, and males, for example, suffer more fire fatalities proportionately than any other age group nationally (NIMSS, 2011). However, it is important to identify the high risk victims locally as it can differ widely from community to community. Once these groups have been identified, it will be important to find out why they are a high risk group. Involving the community and reviewing fire reports and speaking with fire safety inspectors could reveal important information in describing the characteristics of these victims.
In addition to the obvious high risk victims, those people who live close or with these potential victims also need fire safety education. In any given community, they must be identified before the fire safety education and prevention interventions can begin. When population groups at greatest risk have been identified, interventions targeting them can be designed. These potential victims should also be involved in the development and implementation of the intervention effort.
Main points
• Identify the groups with the highest fire death and injury rates.
• Determine why they have such high rates.
• Involve these groups in the fire prevention effort.
Identify high risk behaviour
A person’s actions or omissions, either before or after ignition, are often one of the most important factors in a fire incident. Discovering these behavioural patterns is often difficult, but this information can prove to be incredibly valuable to the fire safety educator, especially when developing messages to change the high risk behaviour. After obtaining this information, the fire safety educator must then decide where to intervene in the chain of events that lead to the fire incident. Many fire safety educators realise that fires are not caused by flammable liquids or smoking materials but by the way people use these products. For this reason, fire education programmes cannot afford to overlook the relationship between human behaviour and the fire and burn hazards. Developing specific behavioural change prevention messages require a good understanding of the circumstances around local fire deaths and injuries.
Main points
• Determine which behaviour, acts or omissions, causes fires.
• Decide how the behaviour can be changed.
• Teach the target audience exactly what to do.
Using an analysis process to prioritise the fire problems
Once the data has been collected it must be analysed. Problem and target audience analysis is critical and should include establishing an accurate data base on fire and injury issues. It is important that decisions are based on the 'big picture', as well as the urgency of each problem. Analysis uses statistics and data about fires and injuries to determine the priorities of problems. It is a planned process with a desired result that leads to the prioritisation of local problems and provides an objective view of the fire and injury problem. However, the process does not make the decision about prevention interventions. This is the role of the educator and organisational management. Ultimately, for any intervention to be successful long term, the target community should be involved in the decision making as well.
There are various tools that can be used for this analysis. ESRI’s ArkGIS, which is commonly used by government, has powerful analysis tools that can be used to analyse and compare fire data. The information gathered during analysis will probably reveal several serious fire problems. The task now is to choose the problem that, if solved, would have the greatest impact on the local fire situation. The fire safety educator may wish to determine which problem is the most serious in terms of (1) fire incidence, (2) fire deaths, (3) fire injuries and (4) fire loss.
Main points
- Locate neighbourhoods or building occupancy types with high fire risks.
- Discover what is causing the risks to be above average.
- Concentrate programmes and personnel in high risk locations.
Identify high risk times
Fire dangers increase at certain times of the day, week and year and can also be ‘seasonal’. Local fire safety educators should identify these high risk times, then coordinate interventions that will alert people to high risk times of fire danger. When it comes to wildfire, the Fire Danger Index (FDI) is often used to inform communities and the public of the increased risk during ‘red’ days.
The traffic department is a good example of using knowledge about high risk times. When schools are located near high risk spots for pedestrian accidents, traffic vehicles are dispatched to these intersections where children that have to walk home from school in the afternoon. A traffic officer guides school children across the road reducing the likelihood of a traffic related injury to young children. Similarly, during dry spells, certain fire departments dispatch an apparatus to strategic places when school is dismissed in the afternoon. This action has been known to cut down on bush fire incidents that are often started by children on their way home from school.
Main points
• Identify times of day, week or year with highest fire loss incidence.
• Identify types of fires occurring at these times.
• Plan to concentrate fire safety messages during these times.
Identify high risk populations
Fire is more hazardous to some people than to others. The very young, the very old, and males, for example, suffer more fire fatalities proportionately than any other age group nationally (NIMSS, 2011). However, it is important to identify the high risk victims locally as it can differ widely from community to community. Once these groups have been identified, it will be important to find out why they are a high risk group. Involving the community and reviewing fire reports and speaking with fire safety inspectors could reveal important information in describing the characteristics of these victims.
In addition to the obvious high risk victims, those people who live close or with these potential victims also need fire safety education. In any given community, they must be identified before the fire safety education and prevention interventions can begin. When population groups at greatest risk have been identified, interventions targeting them can be designed. These potential victims should also be involved in the development and implementation of the intervention effort.
Main points
• Identify the groups with the highest fire death and injury rates.
• Determine why they have such high rates.
• Involve these groups in the fire prevention effort.
Identify high risk behaviour
A person’s actions or omissions, either before or after ignition, are often one of the most important factors in a fire incident. Discovering these behavioural patterns is often difficult, but this information can prove to be incredibly valuable to the fire safety educator, especially when developing messages to change the high risk behaviour. After obtaining this information, the fire safety educator must then decide where to intervene in the chain of events that lead to the fire incident. Many fire safety educators realise that fires are not caused by flammable liquids or smoking materials but by the way people use these products. For this reason, fire education programmes cannot afford to overlook the relationship between human behaviour and the fire and burn hazards. Developing specific behavioural change prevention messages require a good understanding of the circumstances around local fire deaths and injuries.
Main points
• Determine which behaviour, acts or omissions, causes fires.
• Decide how the behaviour can be changed.
• Teach the target audience exactly what to do.
Using an analysis process to prioritise the fire problems
Once the data has been collected it must be analysed. Problem and target audience analysis is critical and should include establishing an accurate data base on fire and injury issues. It is important that decisions are based on the 'big picture', as well as the urgency of each problem. Analysis uses statistics and data about fires and injuries to determine the priorities of problems. It is a planned process with a desired result that leads to the prioritisation of local problems and provides an objective view of the fire and injury problem. However, the process does not make the decision about prevention interventions. This is the role of the educator and organisational management. Ultimately, for any intervention to be successful long term, the target community should be involved in the decision making as well.
There are various tools that can be used for this analysis. ESRI’s ArkGIS, which is commonly used by government, has powerful analysis tools that can be used to analyse and compare fire data. The information gathered during analysis will probably reveal several serious fire problems. The task now is to choose the problem that, if solved, would have the greatest impact on the local fire situation. The fire safety educator may wish to determine which problem is the most serious in terms of (1) fire incidence, (2) fire deaths, (3) fire injuries and (4) fire loss.
The planning and identification of prevention priorities is very similar to the planning phase used during incident command
However, there are several other important considerations to contemplate when making this decision:
The fire safety educator and other decision makers, must review these considerations and establish the fire priorities based upon their judgement. This, at times, is difficult.
The problems should be considered as a high, moderate, or low priority. High priority problems should be addressed immediately in some manner. Moderate priority problems are not generally an urgent issue. Low priority problems should only be addressed when there are no high or moderate priorities.
Create the big picture
Once you have identified the top few fire priorities to tackle, the next step is to create a ‘scenario’ or chain of events of how the incident happens. This scenario can be developed from the information gathered during the Identification activities, from a detailed study of local fire data or from an in-depth investigation (including human behaviour), selected fire incidents and the community or target population. The scenario will help you to understand the target audiences and determine strategies for reaching them. For example, hypothetical scenarios could include:
“Children aged 10 and below (high risk victims) setting fires (high risk behaviour) alongside the road verge, especially along mountain road (high risk location), after school hours (high risk time).”
“Adult females (high risk victims) leaving the kitchen unattended during meal preparation (high risk behaviour and high risk location), especially during the preparation on dinner in the afternoon (high risk time).”
“Adult males (high risk victims) smoking in bed while under the influence of alcohol (high risk behaviour and location)”.
Once the likely scenarios have been determined for the given population and problem, you can proceed with the development or selection of appropriate evidence based prevention interventions.
Conclusion
The fire risk assessment process depends on the availability of resources and reliable data. However, it still boils down to working out where to focus the limited resources that fire services have to get the ‘biggest bang for their buck’. It’s clear that we can be far more sophisticated in our efforts to understand who our target audiences for fire safety really are and how to reach them. It takes more resources, to be sure, but if we’re going to be successful with our fire prevention strategies, we might consider spending more of our time and money up front where it will do more good. Unless we’re doing a good job of assessing our real risks, we might just be headed full speed in the wrong direction.
- Impact of the problem on the community in terms of life, injury, property loss, economic impact, etc. This can be in terms of people injured, cost of the fires, etc.
- Frequency of the problem or how often it occurs.
- Likelihood of the problem getting worse without educational intervention.
- Existing community programmes that are successfully addressing the problems.
- The trend of the problem. In other words, is there indication the problem is getting worse over time.
- The mission and the goals of the organisation. There may be some fire or life safety problems that are clearly outside the scope of the organisation.
The fire safety educator and other decision makers, must review these considerations and establish the fire priorities based upon their judgement. This, at times, is difficult.
The problems should be considered as a high, moderate, or low priority. High priority problems should be addressed immediately in some manner. Moderate priority problems are not generally an urgent issue. Low priority problems should only be addressed when there are no high or moderate priorities.
Create the big picture
Once you have identified the top few fire priorities to tackle, the next step is to create a ‘scenario’ or chain of events of how the incident happens. This scenario can be developed from the information gathered during the Identification activities, from a detailed study of local fire data or from an in-depth investigation (including human behaviour), selected fire incidents and the community or target population. The scenario will help you to understand the target audiences and determine strategies for reaching them. For example, hypothetical scenarios could include:
“Children aged 10 and below (high risk victims) setting fires (high risk behaviour) alongside the road verge, especially along mountain road (high risk location), after school hours (high risk time).”
“Adult females (high risk victims) leaving the kitchen unattended during meal preparation (high risk behaviour and high risk location), especially during the preparation on dinner in the afternoon (high risk time).”
“Adult males (high risk victims) smoking in bed while under the influence of alcohol (high risk behaviour and location)”.
Once the likely scenarios have been determined for the given population and problem, you can proceed with the development or selection of appropriate evidence based prevention interventions.
Conclusion
The fire risk assessment process depends on the availability of resources and reliable data. However, it still boils down to working out where to focus the limited resources that fire services have to get the ‘biggest bang for their buck’. It’s clear that we can be far more sophisticated in our efforts to understand who our target audiences for fire safety really are and how to reach them. It takes more resources, to be sure, but if we’re going to be successful with our fire prevention strategies, we might consider spending more of our time and money up front where it will do more good. Unless we’re doing a good job of assessing our real risks, we might just be headed full speed in the wrong direction.