Washington, DC (September 14, 2022) – Vision 20/20, a project of the Institution of Fire Engineers-USA Branch, has been awarded a FY 2021 FEMA Fire Prevention and Safety Grant to expand the integration of Community Risk Reduction (CRR) practices within the U.S. fire service. This two-year grant award will fund the following projects:

• Creation of CRR Academy, a Learning Management System that will move all Vision 20/20 training content to a new virtual format, exponentially increasing audience reach and diversity.
• Develop webinars on each of Vision 20/20’s guiding strategies of Advocacy, Education & Outreach, Culture, Technology, Codes & Standards and Model Performance.
• Update material and training content to meet the needs of an evolving segment of our industry.  These include updates to six of Vision 20/20’s guides; Outcomes, Model Performance, Community Risk Assessments, CRR Planning, Home Safety Visits and the State guide for Supporting CRR Programming.
• Convert course material to a virtual learning format including a one-day CRR Workshop (8-hour class), Statewide Collaboration & Engagement Framework training, Model Performance & Evaluation training and Station-Based Risk Assessment training.
• Vision 20/20’s flagship training, the two-day Data Collection & Analysis training, will be converted to a virtual course enabling fire personnel across the nation to develop the knowledge, skills and abilities needed to understand their data on a much deeper level and create their basic Community Risk Assessment with our template.
• Conduct research into cooking fire messaging, educational video and updates to the Materials Generator, a free tool for fire departments to brand educational material with tested messaging.

FEMA’s grant award will continue to increase awareness about CRR and how it can be implemented in communities across the nation to reduce risk, says Stephen Hrustich, Vision 20/20 project manager. “This grant will allow us to develop and provide resources to drive CRR across all levels of the fire and emergency services. The creation of a learning management system and converting our course material to a virtual learning format will allow free access to all members of the fire service,” he added. “It supports our mission to identify gaps, evaluate and apply data-driven strategies and resources and provide guidance in implementing adaptive measures to reduce fire and other risks. Collaborating with other organizations on our advisory council, we will save lives and protect first responders and property.”

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In this episode of CRR Radio we are talking with Anne Arundel County Fire Department Chief Trisha Wolford. Chief Wolford was a part of the multi-disciplinary team that wrote this paper that takes a long-term look at where the fire and emergency services needs to go to maintain its relevance and importance in providing protection to the community. You can learn more and download the paper at https://www.cpse.org/projects/21st-century/.

The CPSE’s 10th edition of the Quailty Improvement for the Fire And Emergency Services document, which is used by fire departments across the globe in their accreditation process, has a strong emphasis on Community Risk Assessment. In this episode of CRR Radio we speak with Division Chief Matt Knott who was closely involved in writing this part of the document.

In this episode we talk with cardiologist Dr. Seth Martin from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine about the role of preventive cardiac health as a CRR issue. The leading cause of deaths across the nation, by far, is cardiovascular disease (CVD), killing over 600,000 people each year-200 for every fire death. When conducting a Community Risk Assessment for any community, CVD will rank right up there at the top. We talk about some strategies that you can do to help change this in your community.

In this episode of CRR Radio from Vision 20/20, we talk with Monica Colby who is heading up the Call for Presentations for the seventh Model Performance in Community Risk Reduction that will be opening on January 12, 2021. Monica fills us in on how the process will be run, the evaluation rubric that will be used (and is available), the new coaching system that is available and about the “Minnow Tank” that will be happening at S7. Thinking of submitting? This podcast is for you! https://www.strategicfire.org/s7

Learn more about the Vision 20/20 Statewide Collaboration and Engagement Framework (www.strategicfire.org/SCEF. To build a national coalition of states engaged in adopting and implementing best practices in Community Risk Reduction using inclusive and diverse teams to achieve measurable and sustainable results in building safe, healthy and resilient communities.

In this podcast we talk with Battalion Chief of Community Medicine Joe Casciotti from the Harris County Emergency Services District #48 in Texas about their Mobile Integrated Health/Community Paramedicine program that addresses the issues around Cardiovascular Disease (CVD). CVD is the leading cause of death across the nation, and Harris County, in partnership with the hospital system, has developed a system for following up with heart attack victims to reduce re-admissions through home safety visits – with remarkable results. Readmission rates dropped from 12% to 4%, a significant decrease.  CVD is the leading cause of death in America, killing 600,000 people per year. To put this in context, 200 times more people die from CVD than from fires, which kill 3,000 people every year. CVD is a CRR issue…not every community has had a fatal fire, but every community has lost members to CVD. Listen to what Joe has to say and learn what you can do in your community!

In this episode we talk with three CRR experts from across the nation about what is the future of CRR after COVID-19. Our guests include Section Chief Josh Fulbright, South Carolina State Fire Marshal’s Office; Assistant Chief Rich Palmer, Ohio State Fire Marshal’s Office and Deputy Chief Joe Powers, Charlottesville (VA) Fire Department.

In the sixth episode of the special series of CRR Radio focusing on the COVID-19 Pandemic, we are looking at how to craft effective messages for the public using the tenets of behavioral science. To learn more, we talked with Dr. Ellie Kazemi, a behavioral scientist with California State University Northridge and Maggie Lawrence, a marketing behavioral specialist with Marketing For Change.