Fire Safety and Prevention Tools

Working Together to Save Lives

A residential fire claims a life every three hours, making fires the 3rd leading cause of fatal home injury in the United States. Every half hour someone survives a home fire, but does not escape without injuries. Fire deaths and injuries are preventable, and that is why the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) partnered with the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to develop a consolidated, powerful voice in fire safety and prevention.  Please access this vital information, including life-saving tips and tools at www.FireSafety.gov, an information resource for eliminating fire deaths.

In addition to its comprehensive Fire Safety message, FireSafety.gov is designed to assist the media in writing stories about residential fires.  Valuable statistics, vital safety and prevention tips as well as other accessible online resources are just clicks away.

FireSafety.gov resources to help get fire safety messages into news stories:

• Home Fires: The Big Picture
• Fire Prevention & Safety Tips
• Smoke Alarm Resources
• Statistics
• Photos & B-Roll Footage
• For PIOs: The Media "Package"
• For PIOs: Interview Tips

Fire Spokesperson’s Pocket Media Guide: 
A Pocket-sized Tool Proves a Powerful Pitch

Resources for Public Information Officers (PIOs)
As someone who speaks with the news media about residential fires in your community, you play a pivotal role in communicating timely fire safety and prevention information to the public.

The communication strategies and tools, found in the Fire Spokesperson’s Pocket Media Guide, are most effective in “teachable moments”, just following a fire-related tragedy when public awareness is heightened. In 2008, fire departments across the country responded to 403,000 home fires, in which the lives of 2,755 people were claimed and another 13,560 were injured. These statistics, as tragic as they are, define the number of opportunities PIOs have to deliver the timely, life-saving messages found in the pocket media guide. An affected community is most receptive to hearing prevention tips in the moments and days following a fire.

Please access the Fire Spokesperson’s Pocket Media Guide to learn how to maximize the impact of a fire safety message in interviews with local and national news media. Doing so will help your community take preventive measures to reduce the tragic loss of life and injuries from residential fires.

• Order Pocket-sized Hard Copies
• Download Fire Spokesperson's Media Pocket Guide (PDF 433K)
• Download Pre-Press Files for the Fire Spokesperson’s Pocket Media Guide (ZIP, 19 Mb)