Fire PALS

Program Goal

The goal of our Fire PALS Program is to teach school children, adults, elderly and those in our community with special needs, the skills necessary to protect themselves and their families by responding promptly and effectively when confronted with a fire or life safety hazard.

Program Objectives

1. To decrease unintentional injury and death, specifically in children age fourteen and under, the elderly and those in our community with special needs.
2. To continue our ongoing comprehensive Fire PALS Fire and Injury Prevention program in public schools, senior citizen organizations and the community designed to meet the needs of these targeted groups.
3. To open lines of communication between firefighters, city departments, and people of all ages in the community; and diffuse the fear created by Ethnic language barriers, and cultural diversity.
4. To maintain the program, using the support developed through the initial and ongoing grant from the Centers for Disease Control Prevention, Center for Unintentional Injuries and continue the development and ongoing evaluation of the program with support from our coalition of area agencies.
5.  Fire PALS instructors will continue to teach fire and injury prevention at area schools to children in grades K-5.  Area preschool and head-start teachers will train and implement our new Fire PALS Preschool Fire and Injury Prevention Program. The safety trailer will continue to be made available to schools and other area agencies.
6. To continue to develop and maintain public relations between Waterloo Fire Rescue and the community. To influence public opinion in favor of the health and safety of children in the communities that we serve through implementation of timely fire and injury prevention press releases and safety programs.
7.  To create a deeper awareness in our community for the need for practicing responsible safety behaviors and for greater society acceptance of teaching accountability through our educational programs and through continued promotion of our website: www.firepals.com.