IMPLEMENTING YOUR ADVOCACY PROGRAM

Jim Crawford,† in his article Building Blocks of Advocacy,* quotes his friend Wayne Powell as saying, "No data, no problem; no problem, no money." As this quote underscores, meaningful data is indeed essential. But injury and death statistics alone will not generate the type of support needed for effective prevention programs.

In order to generate support as well as active advocacy among community leaders you need to show the full impact of fire on an ongoing, year-to-year basis, that includes costs to the economy, the social structure, community viability and the environment.

This was done very effectively as part of the Vancouver, WA advocate development program. Despite these and other efforts, the Vancouver Fire Department budget was still cut, as were emergency operations budgets. This underscores the importance of ongoing, nimble efforts to demonstrate the true costs of fire on the entire community.

The prevention committee created a fact sheet to demonstrate the real cost of fire to the community, beyond the statistics people tend to think of first.

"No one strategy will ensure adequate support for fire prevention programs. But without data to demonstrate the severity of the problem there is no hope of gaining local, state, or national support. And without demonstrating results, we will be asking decision makers to back our efforts without evidence they are working. Finally, without influential partners, including enlightened leadership, prevention programs will ultimately suffer because there is no natural advocacy and priorities will very likely be skewed toward emergency response capabilities. Those are critical as well, but we can and must do a more effective job of building the support necessary to maintain effective fire prevention efforts."
-Jim Crawford, Vancouver Fire Department (retired)

†Jim Crawford is the former deputy chief and fire marshal with the Vancouver (Wash.) Fire Department. He is chair of the NFPA technical committee on professional qualifications for fire marshals. He has written "Fire Prevention: A Comprehensive Approach," published by Brady, and has also written a chapter on fire prevention in "Managing Fire and Rescue Services," published by the International City/County Managers Association. Crawford is a past president of the International Fire Marshals Association and has served on the NFPA's Standards Council. He is a member of the International Association of Fire Chiefs
*Building Blocks of Advocacy by Jim Crawford in FireRescue Magazine