Chapter 7 - FIRE PREVENTION: SMOKY AND THE BANDITS

CHAPTER 7

FIRE PREVENTION: SMOKY AND THE BANDITS

Remember the Army supervising the private contractors who were managing the city . Well, if you know the military you know fires are not permitted. Fire prevention was a priority. The government owned everything. If you lived in the city the government owned your home. If you needed a bucket of coal you called MSI. If you needed a room painted you called MSI. If you had a maintenance problem you called MSI. They would investigate and if they determined you were correct they would provide the service. If it was reported that a tenant was negligent in some area a warning was given. If the warning was not heeded the tenant could be ordered to vacate the premises.

Now who do you think might be making these reports to MSI? If it was a fire or safety hazard it would probably be the fire department. The department made annual home inspections. Often if the tenant wanted something corrected they would use the fire department to convey the message. Commercial inspections were made monthly and the same procedure used. Another early program was spring clean up. Everyone was urged to place all debris and unwanted articles near the curb for pick up by MSI.

Fire Prevention Week was the biggie. A big parade was sponsored by the department each year to kick off Fire Prevention Week. Often famous people and local dignitaries participated in the parades. School children, bands, civic groups, and many others marched in the parade. A beauty contest was held to determine who would be Miss Flame for that year. Open house at the fire stations was observed and many demonstrations and displays were shown for the townspeople. These were pre-television days. Many did not own an automobile. Lots of people walked down to the neighborhood firehouse to observe the goings-on. All the equipment carried on the Squad Truck was displayed at Station No. 2 - Headquarters.

At the elementary schools programs were being presented all week. The teachers were involved as they taught the children the dangers of fire. The firemen performed in skits.

In 1947 the ORFD won first place in a national fire prevention contest sponsored by the NFPA. There were 2,437 entries from over the USA and Canada. Chicago placed second, New York City third, Jersey City fourth and Memphis fifth. Quite an honor.

Throughout the years the department has worked with many civic groups such as counseling the Boy Scouts to aid them in securing their firemanship merit badges.

Some of the individuals who have led the Fire Prevention effort have been Ben Suddarth, Richard Mynatt, James Howard, and Laura Davis. Laura presently is the Assistant Chief of Fire Prevention. She has the twofold responsibility of inspections and fire prevention.

Fire Prevention
by Assistant Chief of Fire Prevention Laura Davis

The Oak Ridge Fire Department has incorporated the basics of fire prevention theory into a dynamic department that strives to be proactive in keeping fires, fire injuries, and fire deaths f rom occurring in Oak Ridge, These basics include the three E's of fire prevention:

1. Engineering
2. Education
3. Enforcement

We work very closely with the city employees in the public works engineering department, the planning department , and the code enforcement department to ensure that new development in the city is done with fire safety in mind. To that end, we are involved in the site review process, approving water line size, pressure requirements, water supply and fire hydrant locations. We have developed a close, honest and open relationship with developers in town to achieve above average cooperation and rapport. This extends, also, to the design professionals who submit building plans and plans for the systems that protect those buildings. We work as a team to see that new construction meets at least the minimum construction standards adopted by the city, and, through education and open discussion, often achieve higher levels of protection.

Oak Ridge was one of the leaders nationwide in strengthening the minimum code requirements by adopting smoke detection system and fire sprinkler system ordinances for new construction. These ordinances help the fire department respond to hostile fires by detecting them in their early stages, alerting the fire department automatically, and, in the case of a sprinklered building, beginning fire suppression prior to the fire departments arrival. The benefits derived f rom the implementation of these ordinances include lower property loss - less than 10% of the national average - and lower injury and death rates - less than 1% of the state civilian fire injuries, and no firefighter injuries or firefighter or civilian fire deaths.

These low statistics are not due only to the engineering practices and enforcement of codes in new construction. Along with these, public fire education plays a big role in our fire prevention efforts. Our firefighters all deliver good fire prevention messages to citizens of all ages in groups that visit our stations or as speakers providing outreach to community groups. We use education efforts to support our inspection programs by discussing the reasons behind the codes, the consequences of noncompliance as far as fire hazards go, and the benefits of keeping facilities fire safe.

We devote a large amount of time and effort each year to several seasonal fire prevention events, notably Fire Prevention Week and the "Change Your Clock, Change Your Battery" campaigns in October. Summer fire safety through working with day camps , holiday fire safety and cold weather fire safety in the winter months is coordinated through our local print and television media.

Another facet of the fire prevention department is the investigation of all fires to determine fire causes and to prevent future fires from ocurring in the same manner, While all fires are investigated for cause, suspicious or intentionally set fires receive attention from our fire investigation team, including police department detectives. The causes of these fires are documented and a criminal investigation is done with criminal prosecution as the goal of the investigation. Aggressive fire investigation results in fewer arson cases and less loss, in terms of life and property, for the taxpayers of Oak Ridge.

A true resolve that fire prevention is as important as fire suppression in the dedication of resources is the cornerstone of the success that we enjoy in keeping our fire losses low. We have had a succession of forward-looking fire chiefs and city managers who recognize this and the city has benefitted from that fact.

Assistant Chief of Fire Prevention
Laura Davis

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