Minn. fire department gets prevention grant to expand home safety checks

By Maria Elena Baca
The Star Tribune

SPRING LAKE PARK, Minn. — FEMA funding will allow the Spring Lake Park-Blaine-Mounds View Fire Department to expand its educational outreach to homeowners.

In Spring Lake Park, Blaine and Mounds View, where there's no smoke there may still be firefighters, now more than ever.

The district's tri-city fire department recently won a $144,400 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to expand its Home Safety Survey — a program that, in part, sends firefighters into people's homes to ferret out fire and accident hazards before anyone gets hurt.

"We are teaching people to make their homes safer for themselves and their families," said Connie Forster, the department's chief prevention officer. "Most fires are predictable and preventable. A lot of times people don't know about [the hazards in their homes]. You're in your house every day; you don't see things because it's just part of your environment. We are just another set of eyes. We give suggestions on how to make your house a safer place."

The department plans to use part of the grant to continue to market the home surveys and build on the good results firefighters get from word of mouth.

People's reluctance to let strangers into their homes is the biggest barrier to expanding the program, Forster said. Uniformed safety educators arrive with ID badges and often in marked fire department vehicles. The visits are usually set up by appointment.

The department wants to spread the word that the survey results are confidential, and not tied to city code enforcement or any other regulating authority. Though participants are encouraged to fill out an evaluation that asks them which safety changes they are most likely to implement, the department doesn't check back to make sure they did make a change.

"The information goes nowhere except with the person doing the home survey and the home- owner," Forster said.

Since 1999, the department has averaged 250 home visits a year. With the grant, it's hoping to double that, Forster said.

The department hopes to continue its "goodie" store of smoke and carbon monoxide detectors that are available to participants, as well as flameless candles, batteries, night lights and restaurant coupons.

Though 2010 statistics aren't available yet, emergency calls have been trending downward in the district as population has grown. As of 2009, emergency calls were down 8.7 percent over 10 years in the district overall, even though population had grown by 18 percent, Forster said. Fire Chief Nyle Zikmund has credited the prevention efforts for the decrease.

In addition, officials hope to improve the department's online safety survey — available at www.homesafetychallenge.org. Right now, people can take a quiz to assess how safe their homes are. Residents of the three cities also can schedule a fire department employee to visit their homes for a more in-depth assessment.

The plan, Forster said, is to translate the website into Spanish and Russian, and perhaps a third language. She'd like to add a voice-over to overcome literacy barriers as well.

Eventually, the department will be able to share the coding on the website with other departments, which will be able to customize it for their own needs and safety programming.

Copyright 2011 Star Tribune
All Rights Reserved