February 18, 2019
To raise awareness about campus and community fire and carbon monoxide (CO) safety, LCWA worked with First Alert to host the second annual Town/Gown Fire Safety Community Service Project in partnership with Campus Firewatch and the Michael H. Minger Foundation.
The Town/Gown project aims to raise awareness by engaging local fire departments, universities and students. Learning fire safety by doing fire safety is one of the best ways for students, many of whom may be living on their own for the first time, to understand the importance of working smoke and CO alarms.Dozens of fire departments applied to positively impact their community by educating students and community members about the importance of working smoke alarms and help to improve fire safety in homes.
First Alert donated 100 smoke or CO alarms to the 25 selected departments, along with 100 fire safety magnets as easy-to-place reminders. The 25 fire departments were empowered to develop an activation plan for their community, with the support of group emails and conference calls to help the departments share ideas and key learnings about their respective outreach. Each department’s initiative was structured to fit the unique needs of their community. Student participation varied from the social work programs, Greek life organizations, firefighters-in-training and those more focused on volunteering.
LCWA also supported media relations efforts in the communities, drafting materials, social content and conducting media outreach in order to further spread fire safety awareness and the impact of the alarm installations.
To date, the program has secured great grassroots coverage with the departments. This includes The Journal-Gazette (Fort Wayne, Ind.), The Oxford Eagle (Oxford, Miss.), Lincoln Journal Star (Lincoln, Neb.) and KXLY-TV(Spokane, Wash.).
To learn more about fire safety, visit the First Alert website at www.firstalert.com. You also can follow the Town/Gown Fire Safety Community Service Project on Twitter and Facebook via #TownGownFire.