 "If you can save one life, two lives or 10 lives, you've really made
a difference. That's why we're encouraging fire departments to
conduct educational programs in their local communities that will
make a difference and then recognizing them for their efforts," said
Alan Clark, assistant vice president of Grinnell Mutual's Special
Investigations Unit. "The Life Safety Achievement Award honors our
hometown heroes -- our fire departments -- for initiating proactive
programs that save lives."Past award recipient Marion Fire
Department in Marion, Iowa, knows that public education programs
reduce the city's fire rate and therefore save lives. That's why the
Marion firefighters can be found crawling on the floor of area
preschools each year in full fire gear so children aren't afraid of
a rescuer at a fire scene. It's also why the staff is on hand at the
local farmers market to give passers-by an opportunity to practice
extinguishing a fire. These and other programs are likely the reason
that the city of Marion has fewer fires than other cities of similar
population.
"I tell our firefighters all the time that we save more lives and
property through fire prevention programs than by combating fires on
the scene. With fire prevention education, we have a 100 percent
survivability and property conservation rate. That's what we're
hired to do -- save lives and conserve property," said Deb Krebill,
assistant fire chief of Marion Fire Department. Like many fire
chiefs, she's passionate about protecting her community.
Firefighters across the United States save lives both quietly in
the course of fire prevention programs and dramatically during
rescues in burning buildings. Life Safety Achievement recipients
also save lives somewhere in between the two extremes, as West
Burlington Fire Chief Mike Heim describes.
"In our experience, almost everyone gets out of a burning
building when the smoke alarm goes off, but it's the adults that try
to go back in for something they forgot -- purses, wallets, etc.,"
said Heim. "That's when we find them disoriented in rooms so thick
with smoke that you can't see or breathe, and we have to escort them
out. Things can be replaced or retrieved after the fire is put out.
Never go back into a burning building."
Recognizing hometown heroes
The Life Safety Achievement Award not only honors community
heroes, but as past recipients will attest, the national recognition
plays a vital role when departments seek funding to upgrade
equipment, enhance training and, of course, sponsor fire prevention
programs.
"The Life Safety Achievement Award absolutely helps our fire
department acquire funding. By being recognized nationally, it shows
that our fire prevention efforts are on the right path," said Heim.
His unit, the West Burlington Fire Department of West Burlington,
Iowa, was among 50 fire departments that received the award last
year for their efforts in 2011.
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Award criteria
Fire departments across the United States are eligible for the
Life Safety Achievement Award. To qualify, fire departments must
record zero fire deaths in residential structures or a 10 percent
reduction of fire deaths during 2012. In addition, they must
demonstrate commitment to prevent residential fires in their local
communities through effective fire prevention programs. The
applicants must present evidence that the department's fire
prevention efforts increased over the previous year and made a
positive impact.
Residents can help their local heroes earn recognition by
encouraging their community fire department to apply for the Life
Safety Achievement Award. The application is available on Grinnell
Mutual's website at
www.grinnellmutual.com and on its Facebook page,
www.facebook.com/myGrinnellMutual. Applications are due Aug. 9,
and recipients will be notified in mid-September.
___
The National Association of State Fire Marshals Fire Research and
Education Foundation, known as the NASFM Foundation, is a 501(c)(3)
organization that works with companies, government agencies,
associations, academic institutions and others that strive to
achieve higher levels of fire safety for consumers and for the
emergency response community. The NASFM Foundation works to support
the mission of the National Association of State Fire Marshals -- to
protect life, property and the environment from fire and related
hazards -- through science, innovation, research and education. For
more information, visit
www.firemarshals.org/NASFMFoundation.
Grinnell Mutual
Reinsurance Co., in business since 1909, provides reinsurance
for farm mutual insurance companies and property and casualty
insurance products through more than 1,600 independent agents in 12
Midwestern states. Grinnell Mutual is the largest primary reinsurer
of farm mutual companies in North America. Follow Grinnell Mutual on
Twitter and
Facebook.
[Text from file received from
Grinnell Mutual]
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