IMPLEMENTING YOUR ADVOCACY PROGRAM
Develop Localized Fire Data
Demonstrating the actual cost of fire to your community can help built interest and support for fire prevention programs. Use the Fire Prevention Data Localization Worksheets to gather and organize demographic and fire incidence data for your community. You will find instructions for using the worksheets on the first page of the file.
How to find statistics specific to your community.
Demographics: The United States Census Bureau provides an online community fact service. Simply enter the name or zip code of your community to find all the basic information you will likely need, including:
Fire Incidence: If your department uses the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) you will be able to readily determine:
- Total number of fire incidents
- Location/type of fires
- Number/distribution of injuries
- Number/distribution of deaths
- Number of apparatus used
- Number of personnel used
- Direct property loss
The USFA offers a free Fire Data Analysis Handbook.
Economic Cost: Beyond direct property loss, the economic cost of fire includes losses from injury and death, apparatus utilization and personnel costs. These are calculated based on national norms:
Direct property loss = {figure from NFIRS}*
+each death = $5,000,000
+each injury = $166,000
+each apparatus = TBD
+each personnel = TBD
Total cost of fire = ${sum of all above}
*This is the Total fire dollar loss shown on your NFIRS "Summary by Fire Incident Type" Summary Output Report found in your NFIRS Web Based tools sectuib