Fire Department, Local Elementary Schools, Team Up On "Take a Break for Safety"

(LEFT TO RIGHT: LT. JOHN KRONEWITTER, CAPT. JEFF LANDRUS, CITY EMA COORDINATOR KIM TEGELER, PUBLIC EDUCATION COORDINATOR KEN HAYES, ASST FIRE CHIEF MATT KULESZA, KEVIN STUNDON FROM HOMEWOOD GRILL, FIRE CHIEF BOB TUTKO, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY JENN ALWARDT)

The Effingham Fire Department, in cooperation with local elementary schools, has developed a Community Risk Reduction program entitled, “Take a Break for Safety”. The program designed by Fire Chief Bob Tutko addresses the risk of death or injury resulting from residential fires.

According to FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), “residential fires” are the leading property type for fire deaths (73.2%), fire injuries (76.5%) and fire loss (54.7%). The Fire Department does not have the authority to conduct fire and life safety inspections of single family residents as they do for commercial, industrial, or assembly properties. While they inspect apartment buildings, they can only inspect the “common areas” and not the individual apartments.

The Take a Break for Safety program utilizes grade school students as “ambassadors in fire prevention” and they in turn conduct an inspection of their home, hopefully with the help of their parents, to insure their smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors are functioning properly. Along with that key element, the “ambassadors” and their parents also develop a home escape plan, and check to insure combustible items are not being stored near furnaces or hot water heaters which can lead to a home fire. This program compliments the fire department's new approach to keeping residents safe by moving away from the traditional public education programs and transitioning to a Community Risk Reduction Strategy where they involve public and private partners in identifying risks to the community. This in turn develops strategies to not only prevent emergencies, but how to properly mitigate the after effects.

The Take a Break for Safety program has the support of private and public schools as well as the private partner for this event, Homewood Grill, who has offered a free soft-serve Ice cream to the selected class in each school for participating in the program. Public Education Coordinator Ken Hayes, who is also a certified public school teacher, has been working with EMA Coordinator Kim Tegeler and with Chief Tutko in bringing this program to reality.