Esri and Institute of Fire Engineers Partner to Improve Fire Prevention Planning

REDLANDS, Calif., July 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Esri and the Institute of Fire Engineers—USA (IFE)-hosted Vision 20/20 project have partnered to improve fire prevention planning through the use of simple risk analysis capabilities that include computer mapping and demographic analysis. The methods are being developed by teams of subject matter experts from both organizations and will be made available for free to fire departments across the United States. They will show public safety staff how to more effectively identify high-risk neighborhoods and create focused fire prevention programs. The resources will be incorporated into community risk reduction training offered by the Vision 20/20 project, including free online courses currently under development.

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Vision 20/20 has been closely involved in the development of the Community Risk Reduction (CRR) effort across the nation. A key part of CRR is how fire departments partner with social services organizations within their communities to do fire safety outreach. This partnership between Esri and Vision 20/20 will help fire fighters develop strategies and tactics to promote community safety that are more focused on the demographics where it is needed.

"Education is vital to reducing death and injury from preventable fires," said Jennifer Schottke, public safety industry solutions manager, Esri. "The Vision 20/20 project provides outstanding training to fire departments across the country. We want to support this effort and help fire protection professionals do their jobs more effectively."

"We really appreciate the support from Esri," said Vision 20/20 project manager Jim Crawford. "It is a great example of how different groups can come together to support mutual goals. A proper risk assessment is essential for prevention planning, and Esri is an ideal partner because its commitment to improving the process and making resources available sets [the company] apart. This work will, without doubt, help improve prevention efforts in the United States."

Esri is supporting Vision 20/20 by supplying its software and data as part of fire department training. IFE is dedicated to promoting the improvement of the science and practice of fire engineering, prevention, and suppression through better risk assessments. Esri staff will participate in the training to teach fire department staff how to use Esri demographic resources combined with an organization's incident data to map where to increase education and home safety visits. For instance, agencies can map and identify where incidence of fires with non-working smoke alarms has been high and where increased outreach is needed. In addition, the agencies can identify low-income housing where more education focusing on the use of working smoke alarms would be of benefit. Public safety professionals can take advantage of Esri mapping capabilities to quickly and accurately use data and pinpoint at-risk neighborhoods.

The Vision 20/20 project and Esri will be announcing the rollout of this program in the coming months. More information can be obtained by monitoring www.strategicfire.org, the Vision 20/20 website.

About IFE Vision 20/20

Vision 20/20 is a project governed by a steering committee of national fire service organizations and individuals and hosted by the Institution of Fire Engineers—USA Branch. It is focusing on improving fire safety across the nation through partnerships, research, science, and collaboration. Its efforts are made possible through funding from the Department of Homeland Security Fire Prevention and Safety Grant program. More information is available at www.strategicfire.org.

About Esri

Since 1969, Esri has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in GIS technology, Esri software is used in more than 300,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world's mapping and spatial analysis. Esri is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at esri.com/news.

Copyright © 2013 Esri. All rights reserved. Esri, GIS by Esri, the Esri globe logo, esri.com, and @esri.com are trademarks, service marks, or registered marks of Esri in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. Other companies and products or services mentioned herein may be trademarks, service marks, or registered marks of their respective mark owners.

SOURCE Esri

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