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SENT BY: ~ 9-16-91 ; 13,07 " RJRT Pft-1 2020267208;# 3 Fire 8agsty Pilot Dities Projecst Moakley Presentation 8eptember iA, 1991 o wWhen you met with Jim Johnston last fall and again earlier this year, he told you of our interest in a fire-safety education program implemented in an area of Portland, Oregon that had a significantly higher fire-death rate than the rest of that city. a Using fire statistics, officials defined the parameters of the target area a Focus group research identified maaningful.messages and the best way to deliver them c' Volunteers canvassed the neighborhood one Saturday, putting door knob hangers on each household that offered free smoke detectors by calling the Urban League, a community organization or the tire department o Volunteers installed the detectors and went over testing and battery replacement roquirements o Follow-up reminded residents to test and replace batteries and delivered other fire-safety messages o Result: annual fire deaths in the neighborhood dropped from 12 to 0 o RJR staff met with Phil Sahaenman last fall to discuss TriDat$ls now published report: Proving Fire Education Works. Schaenman familiar with the Portland project and felt it had broad application potential in this country. We explored with TriData how the project might be replicated in different geographic areas with different urban/rural requiremerite and signed a contract with TriData to undertake a multi-year program to test the feasibility of the application in other geographic/demographic settings. If the methodology is suCcessful under a broad ranga of conditions, we intend to develop a module which will be made available to fire service personnel across the country to use within their own communities.

SENT BY; : 8-16-81 ; 13;07 ; RJRT PR-4 2026267206+# 4 2nterestingly, as an aside, when TriData was in the United Kingdom for the foreign diffaerences research, it found that the budget for fire-safety education in the UK is twice what they spend for fire fighting. Fire officials there explained that through fire education, they not only successfully reduced property and human-loss damages, they also reduced the need for tire-fighting funding -- all in all, a win-win situation. o TriData began what we call th® pilot cities project by identifying locations in the east, the heartlands and the rural south which might be potential project sites. Criteria for locations included: o must ha,ve the fire statistics required to accurately identify fire trends and target areas. c must currently have fire-safety education programs, providing at least an initial framework for project coordination. o must be willing to commit to complete the multi-year pro j ect . a Sites se7.ectmd were Baltimore in the east, Peoria in the mid-west And Barnwall/Blaokville, S.C. Initial meratings were held with appropriate personnel in each location. After fire officials obtained the appropriate municipal clearances, a second meeting initiated thee statistical analyses required to get started. Our only limiting criterion was that since this is a test project, they must identify a manageable g®o~raphia area. Suggested was a 7-8,000 household upper limit.

SENT BY; ; 9-16-91 ; 13:08 ; RJRT PR4 1160262672064 J Baltimore; o fire service is a municipal function headed by Chief Peter O'Connor a coordinators for the project there are Deputy Chief Gary Frederick and John Frazier, the department's chief and legislative liaison officer. o the target community has been defined as a portion of the Rosemont neighborhood along the North Street - corridor adjaGent.to the downtown Baltimore business district of approximately 7,000 households. Housing is largely two- or three-family rowhouses. There are no hi~h rises or housing projects in the target neighborhood. o the area is primarily poor, with a large Black inner city neighborhood. o City-wide data suggests that careless ugea of smoking materials, arson and electrical problems are the leading cause of fire fatalities. Fire fatalities roughly fit the national profile: victims priraarily elderly (60+) and children undex 12. No smoker detectors are present in 40 percent of fatal fires. The detector did not operate in an additional 15 percent of fatal fires. a The program focus is now being defined. Obviously, the goal will be to reduce fire deaths and injuriee, The program is likely to be a smoke detector giveaway program through community organizations. Literature will address smoking and electrical safety. o Support organizations initially identified are the Assn. of Rosemont Community Organizations (AORCO), local ministers. While others are still being identified by fire service personnel, it is clear that the fire service has an excellent reputation and high credibility, and will be very well received if the major message de],ivarer.

SENT BY; ; 5-16-91 ; 13 08 ; RJRT PR-+ 20262672084 6 P Peoria, Ill. c Again, a municipal service department. It's chief's position is currently vacant. o Program coordinators are Ernie Russell, division chief, fire prevention bureau _ o The target community is 10 census tracts along the southeastern edge of the city and is known in Peoria as "The Valley." It includes some of the dock areas. o Approximately 17,350 people in 7,500 households a It's a racially and ethnically diverse arsa, with 30-60 percent a minority population, including Blacks, Asians and Hispanics. It's the poorest area of Peoria. 'Fewer than 50 percent of the area's residents have high-achool diplomas. a In 19$9-90, there were 674 fires in tha target area, 10 deaths and 12 injuries. Further data on causes and demographics of victims is still being researched. o A smoke detector giveaway program will be a critical piece of this proj ect. Key messages and means of delivering them are still being determined. Assistant Chief Russell told us after the focus group we held there that the session changed his thinking about how to most effectively reach people with fire-safety messages, and he says that he now realizes how important it ie to listen to the community before going ahead with a specific program strategy. We are going to give him the time it takes to identify the different messengers to address thee different segments in this community. o Leaders in the Black community have been approached and they are eager to participate. Fire service personnel are identifying Asian and Hispanic leaders. CO CO m ~ N al

SENT BY: ; 8-16-81 ; 13~08 ; RJRT PR4 2026267206;# 7 0 Barnwell/Blackville, S.C. 0 We anticipated that selecting a rural site would be a challenge. Fire service personnel frankly concede that programs are most effsctive and generally targeted at urban situations. kural is more elusive and less well organized. o Fortunately, the state of S.C. made the proeess far less difficult than we anticipated. Excellent state fire marshal in S.C., who, after meeting with TriData, enthusiastically committed to participating by coordinating the project from his office. o Site is actually twos town of Barnwell -- which has a municipal fire service -- and the neighboring town of Slackville -- which as a volunteer fire department o Lloyd Vickery is the Chief in Bttrnwell, Charles Epps is the aasistant chief and heads the VFD in Blackville. Sondra Senn is providing coordination and assistance from the state fire marshal's office. o The two towne contain approximately 14,500 people o Both towns have been affected by the economic downturn -- unemployment is high, there is a large low-income population and there are significant numbers of undereducated. o While there have been no fire deaths for three years, there are about 30-35 residential fires/year -- an alarming per capita rate. Property damage runs high. o Leading causes of fire: cooking and heating-related in Blackville; cooking and elsatrical/appliance in Barnwell. There is na data on smoke detector presence or performance. o Program focus: will focus an cooking, heating and electrical safety. A smoke detector giveaway will focus on the elderly and BYack communitiea, which were not well penetrated during a previous giveaway program. We'll_also be making a special effort to reach low-literacy adults.

SENT BY: ; 8-16-81 ; 13:09 ; RJRT PR4 2026267208;# 8 a Ministers are likely to be key to the project, but they have not chosen to participate in previous programs. We hope information can also be distributed through power bills and social services check mailin gs. Radio public service announcements will also be an important help to reach those who cannot read. Fire service has talked to an elderly Black gentleman in town, who is clearly the key opinion leader, and he is very supportive. He previously led a highly suocsssful "clean up our neighborhood project" and can provide the leadership to help bring the ministers into the program. Also, community action agency, agency on aging and others to reach low-income and elderly residents are being approached.

SENT BY ; 9-16-91 ; 13:09 ; RJRT PR-+ 2026267206;# 9 a Current project status 0 Focus groups held In each community in July a RJR retained a professional research organization in Atlanta, Ga. (minority owned) to conduct the focus groups among residents in the target neighborhoods o present were TriData representative and local fire personnel o Groups helped identify meaningful mossages and media for d®livering them o particular challenge will be the lower literacy levels of many of the residents of these areas o groups went exceedingly we1l, and really energizeci the fire safety personnel who were ready to launch out the next day and get started 4 Are beginning production of support pieces now -- door knob hangers, brochures, church bulletin pieces, etc. o Also exploring supplemental elements, such as a fire-safety questiannaire that school children will comp lete for school credit to raise their awareness of smoke deteotor importance and maintenance requirements, elgctrical/outlat safety issues, heating dangers, cooking safety, etc. o Communitieg are lining up their support groups -- local neighborhood groups, church leaders, community organizations, schools a 8aselins study to be conducted first week in October -- to be a second measure against fire statistics -- a follow-up survey post project will help determine if awareness levels raised -- something Portland did not do, but we think is important to know sa we can judge which tactics, strategies were more imp$cttul, and which were not b At this time, our objective is to announce the program rollout in each community during Firo Prevention Week and start the program aa soon thereafter in each community.

, t SENT 9Y; ~ 9-16-81 ; 13:10 ; RJRT PR-+ 20262_6920g;#10 o tn Bummary: all three communities are very excited and pleased to be participating. We've seen a high degree of comaiitment and are optimistic that we wil3l be able to gather the data required to evaluate the concept of fire-safety education to reduce fire loss. o Recent comment in TriData repoxtt - "Chief Russell (in Peoria) continues to be energized by the process. While analysis of data hag been a time-consuming addition to his overloaded sehedule, he reported that the process has been a 'real eye opener' for him, and that 'we should have bsen doing this all along.' In fact, he says he's been coming in at 7 a.m. each day to work on it because he's learning so muah. He already plans to talk to battalion commanders about improving the qua7.i.ty of data collected by explaining to them how it can be used so effectively to design fire prevention messages. So, I can report that R.J. Reynolds has already made a significant contribution to the Peoria Fire Department's fire prevention effaxts that is likely to affect how things are done for years to Come." ~## I-A