by Alex K. W. Schultz
Photos by Reneh Agha
As it appeared in the Porterville Recorder
Acouple of grants are helping Porterville Fire Department firefighters get the word out in various ways about fire prevention and fire safety.
The messages, PFD public education officer Dan Holloway hopes, will help educate people on the dangers of fire and better prepare them if disaster does strike.
“The more educated people are, the safer they are,” Holloway said.
In summer 2009, the department used a $33,000 Indian Gaming Grant from the Tule River Tribe to purchase a 2009 Ford Expedition.
The department also applied for and received a $167,775 Fire Prevention and Safety Grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security.
The second grant, which lasts a year, was awarded April 30 and has four components.
It pays for Holloway’s position for a year and enables firefighters to do door-to-door installation of smoke alarms. Firefighters have already installed 1,400 smoke alarms with 10-year lithium batteries in mobile homes throughout the city, Holloway said.
The grant also has enabled firefighters to head up a media campaign to promote fire prevention and fire safety.
Lastly, it has allowed firefighters to visit schools and give different presentations related to fire prevention and fire safety.
“The fire department tries to be involved in as many activities in the city as possible,” said Holloway, whose position was started by a 2006 Indian Gaming Grant.
Holloway said all of the $167,775, except for about $15,000, was spent in Porterville. The department purchased a fire-extinguishing training kit, which allows trainees to extinguish a simulated fire on a light-emitting diode (LED) screen using either an infrared extinguisher or a water extinguisher, from a nonlocal business.
PFD also purchased a one-wrap decal, which communicates fire-prevention and fire-safety messages, from Premier Color Graphics in Porterville to wrap around its recently bought car, Prevention 73.
The department bought rental space on a billboard on Olive Avenue just west of Westwood Street and on two city transit buses for fire-prevention and fire-safety messages as well.
Six signs also can be interchanged on the department’s ladder truck.
PFD’s desire to get the word out about fire prevention and fire safety is nothing new.
Last year, Holloway made face-to-face contact with 29,550 people of different ages to talk about fire prevention and fire safety.
“Anything we can do to help keep people safe to avert emergencies is a good thing,” he said.
Contact Alex K.W. Schultz at 784-5000, Ext. 1050 or aschultz@portervillerecorder.com.
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