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Abstract #151499

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Eileen McDonald, MS¹, Andrea C. Gielen, ScD, ScM¹, Jennifer Piver-Renna¹, Michael Griswold, PhD², Angela D. Mickalide, PhD, CHES³, and Meri-K Appy³. (1) Center for Injury Research and Policy, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 North Broadway, Hampton House, Baltimore, MD 21205, 410 614 0225, emcdonal@jhsph.edu, (2) Department of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 North Wolfe Street, E3153, Baltimore, MD 21205, (3) Home Safety Council, 1250 Eye Street, NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20005

We conducted a national survey of U.S. fire departments to create a benchmark of fire and life safety education (FLSE) activities and to identify needs for training and other resources to enhance their prevention education efforts.

We mailed a 35-item survey to a random sample of 7408 fire departments, stratified by size of population served (≤10,000, >10,000), region of the country (NE, MW, SE, S,W), and department type (volunteer, career, combination).

To date, 1521 (20.5%) fire departments completed the survey. Survey estimates based on this sample size will represent fire departments across the U.S. within +/-2%. Based on analysis of the first 1000 surveys, preliminary results suggest that, nationally, 91% of fire departments conduct some type of FLSE, 68% distribute or install injury prevention products, 58% conduct advocacy, and 58% evaluate their FLSE activities. Distribution or installation is commont (51%) for conventional smoke alarms but rare for other products such as fire escape ladders (3%), carbon monoxide detectors (16%), and lithium battery smoke alarms (24%). Most respondents (52%) described FLSE as “supplementary to other activities” while 8% view it as a “critical activity;” 34% were less than satisfied with their department's FLSE. Additional details about specific type, topic and audience for FLSE will be presented.

While departments acknowledged a variety of barriers (e.g., funding, time and competing priorities), most reported an interest in additional training in the area. Recommendations to enhance FLSE, including increased partnership with public health professionals, will be discussed.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize the role of U.S. fire departments in injury prevention
• Describe the extent and nature of injury prevention activities in U.S. fire departments
• Discuss recommendations for improving fire department's injury prevention activities

Keywords: Injury Prevention, Challenges and Opportunities

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

• Audio (mp3) recording
• Slides (pdf) or Handout
• Multimedia recording