I didn’t know what to expect when our shuttle pulled up to the Frisco (Texas) Central Fire Station on a chilly January evening. I was there to tour the department’s “Safety Town,” along with other participants of the Texas Engineering Extension Service Leadership Development Symposium, hosted by Frisco Fire. I had heard Chief Mack Borchardt describe it, and had seen photos, but could it be as inventive as I’d imagined?
Leslie Girdner, a full-time educator employed by the department, was our guide. I learned that since opening in January 2007, more than 160,000 visitors from all over the world have toured Safety Town. This includes most of the city’s elementary school children, who get presentations from firefighters on 911, fire safety, injury prevention and disaster readiness five days a week. (In most Frisco schools, a visit to Safety Town is built into the curriculum for kindergarten through fifth grade.)
Chief Borchardt, who had been incubating the idea of Safety Town since the early ’90s, emphasizes that a fire department “belongs to them”—the people—and needs to seek innovative ways to meet community needs. When a new central fire station needed to be built, Safety Town was incorporated into the design and cost. While city funds support the project, the fire department enlisted financial help from local companies to sponsor versions of themselves to create a realistic miniature city, complete with a fast food outlet, a bank, houses, a TV station and retail stores—and, of course, streets, crosswalks and signal lights. Some sponsors donated several dozen small electric cars for the kids to drive through miniature streets, one of the many things that makes Safety Town a favorite field trip.
In addition, we got to see several elaborately themed classrooms that invite imagination and ignite learning. (Literally. One smoke-darkened room depicts the aftereffects of a burned-out living room and shows a video of how quickly a Christmas tree can turn into an inferno.) Another resembles a kitchen, with windows that look out on a simulated thunderstorm that eventually whips up a tornado. A TV on the counter plays a breaking weather report, complete with a local weatherman pointing out the danger areas on his map (including our location).
Cameron Kraemer, a division chief, oversees the operation. “By bringing the kids to us, we use a bit of ‘shock and awe’ to get their attention,” he says, adding that it helps the department’s image to teach them at an early age (along with their parents) about the role of the fire department as a community asset.
While Frisco’s Safety Town gets the most attention, the fire department began the tradition of community engagement long ago, with birthday parties at all of the city’s six fire stations every Saturday. The event includes a 15-minute safety presentation, a demonstration of a firefighter donning protective equipment, time on the apparatus (with photos) and, yes, a prty in the station’s kitchen. The parents provide pizza and cake while the firefighters provide an unforgettable experience.
Frisco Fire’s Safety Town exceeded my expectations and, more important, showed how a public safety agency can creatively integrate itself into its community with messages of prevention, safety and caring all year long—and in the process make itself indispensable.
Keith Griffiths can be reached at publisher@emergencybestpractices.com.
