We are debuting FFIC’s redesign for our first edition of 2024. Change is good and can be smooth as a two-knot breeze. This was an exciting meeting of minds that was just that. Modifications with minimal resistance — we must always appreciate smooth project collaboration.
As we all know, modifying human behaviour is a whole other beast, categorically singular in its difficulty. Whether we are breaking a habit, adopting a new one, shifting a mind-set or simply getting educated, it requires a focus that I fear is being degraded in the screen dominated virtual landscape of our modern world. For the fire service, public education has probably never had more noise to cut through and disparate filters through which to disseminate. Reaching your target audience with the information is just one victory. Implementation can require a combination of internal motivation and external deterrence. We would do well to remember that no one changed their drinking and driving habits because the laws got laxer. And for lead foots like myself, the prospect of a speeding ticket was undesirable yet palatable…having my vehicle impounded and losing my licence…not so much.
What behaviour is the fire service keen to change in the public these days? There seem to be two top agenda items that inevitably save lives: working smoke alarms and lithium-ion battery safety.
I live in Ontario. It is the law to have a working smoke alarm on every storey and outside all sleeping areas. We’ve had many years of awareness, education and legislation surrounding smoke alarms…yet when Toronto Fire Services launched a new smoke alarm awareness campaign in 2022, it was on the heels of data showing that in the preceding five years, 59 per cent of fires in single-family residential homes did not have a working one. In 2023, after a rise in fire fatalities, Ontario launched its first Test Your Smoke Alarm day on Sept. 28. The bottom line? The fire service is still working very diligently to address human behaviour around smoke alarms after all this time. There are many who have gotten the message and improved their safety measures. Small wins are big wins over time, but the work is never done.
Which leads us to our more recent and growing challenge: lithium-ion battery (LIB) fires. The technology has exploded faster than information, codes and standards have been able to keep up.
But far from being left in the dust, the fire service has tackled the issue head on and made excellent strides in getting resources and plans in place for response, training and education. One hopes the public knows how hard the fire service has worked, and continues to work, to quite frankly save them from themselves, so they can bear a full appreciation for Canada’s all-hazards responders.
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