Community Risk Reduction
By Penni Overstreet-Murphy, Fire Prevention Specialist
Community Safety in the San Bernardino County Fire Office of the Fire
Marshal encompasses the fire prevention tetrahedron in that we
provide education, enforcement, engineering and evaluation. To
serve the residents of San Bernardino County, we are constantly
employing all sides, as together they are integral to our
success. In contrast to the concept of the fire tetrahedron,
where if one side is eliminated the fire goes out, here
in prevention if one side is not done, then we could
potentially have a fire. Preventing fires and injuries is
our mission, so we work as a unified force to:
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Educate at every opportunity, from school programs,
inspections, and plan reviews to fire investigations.
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Enforcement must be code-based and done in a fair
and consistent manner. There is no room for selective
enforcement! Our investigators fall under enforcement in
that once the cause and origin is determined, they will
then enforce whatever laws have been violated.
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Engineering is a critical element to the safety of a
building and to the people who occupy it. Being up
to date on the latest codes and constantly learning is
critical to our plan reviewers.
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Evaluation is a process that is done daily. We ask
ourselves how could we have reached more kids through
school programs, how effective were our inspections, do
our contractors know our guidelines and specifications
for their projects, what caused the fire and how can we
warn others to potential hazards?
Fire investigators are an integral part in
determining fire cause and origin.
“Prevention” has changed over the years from Fire Prevention and
Community Safety to now where some communities are using
Community Risk Reduction.
Throughout the nation, the concept of Community Risk Reduction
is being widely adopted. Still, fire departments differ on whether
this is just another fire prevention program or a department-wide
philosophy. I believe our San Bernardino County Fire Department
recognizes Community Risk Reduction as a holistic philosophy
that is incorporated throughout our department with programs
like paramedicine and inmate crews. When suppression and
prevention (really any support service) work together to identify
issues, needs, and vulnerabilities within our communities and
then find ways to overcome them, we have truly arrived! I have
used the analogy that the fire department is like a person with
two arms—with one being suppression and the other support
staff. People do function with one arm; however, those who can
truly and fully embrace their communities are the ones who
will get back much more in return. Working for County Fire is a
service profession and with that we all have to be vigilant on
ways to better serve our communities.
Fire Prevention specialist Curtis Markloff completes
plans checks on a new commercial occupancy.
Spring 2016 • FIREWIRE
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