Dennis Davis looks back at the FPA’s role in fire safety education and training for both professionals and members of the public.
Throughout its 75-year history, the Fire Protection Association has played a serious role in the development of education, learning and training around fire safety. Having been around for over two thirds of that period, I have seen how the FPA has managed in many different ways to continuously evolve learning methods to develop awareness and understanding of fire. This has included alerting those responsible for the legislative and other controls introduced over the past decades, and to assist users find solutions to mitigate fire’s devastating effects.
In the early days, the FPA concentrated its efforts not simply upon industry but also upon ‘fire brigades’, as the fire and rescue services were then known. Fire brigades were numerous, 148 at the start, and fire service training included live carry-down rescue practice from three storeys without any life safety aids. FPA also began what we now refer to as community fire safety education, which it ran for many decades in an extremely powerful and effective youth education programme.
The first of these initiatives, relating to fire brigades, was naturally through the various media available at the time. Not surprisingly films were used as well as books, guides and pamphlets. One FPA produced film related to arson, which as a young firefighter I watched on station with watch colleagues. The film’s focus was a business destroyed by fire, and actors playing different roles indicated how the loss had occurred and might have been prevented. One of the actors represented a firefighter who was killed fighting the supposed fire and the inclusion of this role captured both imagination and the very real cost of arson.
Media messaging
This attempt to reach out and share messages has of course continued, although the media and practices of getting the lessons learnt has altered and improved greatly, with technology helping gain more attention, wider audiences and on-demand use. Part of this media is the FPA’s regularly published magazine, which as now was a key part in this education process. Regular articles on ‘major loss fires’ and case studies supported by advice and guidance notes were eagerly absorbed and devoured in the 1970s and 1980s by the emerging cadre of ‘fire prevention officers’, who from the 70s onwards were trained – often with FPA advisors’ specialist input – at the proud new Fire Service Technical College, known affectionately as the “College of Knowledge”.
Youth, as mentioned, was also a key early day target audience. It appeared that every school, church and Scout and Guide group in the country had a quiz team. Organised by the local fire brigades into county leagues, these energetic and knowledge-thirsty youngsters competed against each other, producing ultimately their county or brigade finalist who then moved into a regional final. These incredibly well-supported events saw local insurers, the FPA nationally and local fire chiefs engage communities far and wide.
One of the roles all fire services had in these youth quizzes was to provide ‘the judges’ – question masters and adjudicators – to select the top team. And, as with all competitions, the competitiveness amongst teams could be raw, quite often with parents,, team leaders and competitors arguing with the quiz judges about the fairness of a question or correct completeness of their teams’ answers. Regional finals were particularly contested and ¬– fire chiefs from neutral areas had to form the adjudication panel to avoid any suggestion of bias! Ultimately, of course, there was the national final and the grand prize.
All of this may seem archaic by today’s standards and the media opportunities that now exist – which the FPA still exploits to the full to get its message across – but there is no doubt these early passages of education provided a foundation on which many people use as the basis of their understanding of fire. The particular effectiveness of a community programme can still be seen on occasions when attending fires, when firefighters are told this or that particular action had been taken because it had been learnt in a youth fire quiz, all those years ago, along with the ‘triangle of fire’.
Supporting legislation
Moving forward, the fire service and FPA managed - with many others - to commit society to change for the better how the country viewed fire safety. The law was finally altered away from the factory inspectorate and towards the fire service, with more direct enforcement of specific fire safety law. Early exponents were needed as this brand-new legislation arrived; the Fire Safety Act 1971 was indeed a watershed moment and the FPA was there with advice, guidance and support. [Perhaps add something on the RRO?] Similarly, with the introduction of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order [Check date], the FPA was there to advise a new army of fire risk assessors.
The fire safety sector thought it had arrived believing the country now had strong controls that would help reinforce and sustain the ‘fire prevention’ messages that existed at the time. We now know, of course, that legacy has had to itself evolve and indeed, as the tragedy of Grenfell Tower fire has shown, remains incomplete. There is a continuous task to measure, check, advise, support and demand change to stay ahead of fire. The role of the FPA and others with expertise in the fire sector is to scan the horizon, remain alert and attentive, and call out when we are seen slipping behind.
The continued support of the FPA remains, producing some of the finest material to bring people up to date on their current responsibilities, whether they are looking to be compliant with the Fire Safety Order 2005, thinking about what lies ahead in the new building safety regime, managing their fire safety responsibilities in buildings, or working to assess risks and use the diverse tools, equipment and people available to mitigate risk. The FPA’s commitment – especially that made through their ‘public good’ initiatives for free and through the Association’s subscribing members – continues to have a tremendous legacy value.
This commitment, which now extends outside the UK to CFPA, the European partner associations, and in the United States with the National Fire Protection Association, has existed for the full period of the FPA's life. Internally, its in-house expertise now produces some of the finest training materials and advice possible for industrial and commercial users, with well-known products used throughout the UK. Its public voice is a welcome one for all those wanting safety from fire.
Built on the backs of its founders, essentially insurers who realised the benefit of prevention and education about fire, we today have an association with extensive expertise and understanding of fire, a role that cannot be understated. Thank you FPA for this contribution to quality training and learning – long may it continue.
Fire & Risk Management is the UK’s market-leading fire safety journal, published 10 times a year, and is available exclusively to FPA members in digital and print format depending on your requirements. You can find out more about our membership scheme here.
Dennis Davis CBE QFSM is Executive Officer of the Fire Sector Federation.