Changes in smoke alarm coverage following two fire department home visiting programs: what predicts success?

Background: Door-to-door canvassing and installation of smoke alarms have been found to be effective at increasing the number of homes protected. This analysis reports on how smoke alarm coverage changes six months after a home visiting program in a large urban sample, and how this change varies by characteristics of the residents and characteristics of the services delivered during the home visit.

Methods: Fire department Standard and Enhanced home visiting programs were compared.

Utilizing GIS Technology to Improve Fire Prevention Activities in an Urban Fire Department.

The Baltimore City Fire Department (BCFD) has been installing smoke alarms city wide for more than three decades. Though data on each visit are entered into a database, no system existed for using these data for planning or evaluation. The objective of this study is to use Geographic Information System (GIS) technology and existing databases to 1) determine the number of residences in need of a home visit; 2) determine total visits, visits per household, and number of homes entered for eligible households; and 3) demonstrate integration of various data via GIS for use in prevention planning.

Examining fire department injury data as a tool for epidemiological investigation.

Residential fires, while constituting a small fraction of fire incidents, are responsible for the majority of civilian fire-related injuries. This study investigates census tract neighborhood socioeconomic factors as correlates of civilian injuries occurring during residential fires in Baltimore, Maryland, between 2004 and 2007. Civilian residential fire related injuries were geocoded and linked to the American Community Survey 2005-2009 data.

Still too hot: examination of water temperature and water heater characteristics 24 years after manufacturers adopt voluntary temperature setting.

Although water heater manufacturers adopted a voluntary standard in the 1980s to preset thermostats on new water heaters to 120°F, tap water scald burns cause an estimated 1500 hospital admissions and 100 deaths per year in the United States. This study reports on water temperatures in 976 urban homes and identifies water heater and household characteristics associated with having safe temperatures. The temperature of the hot water, type and size of water heater, date of manufacture, and the setting of the temperature gauge were recorded.

Enhancing fire department home visiting programs: results of a community intervention trial.

This study evaluates the impact of an enhanced fire department home visiting program on community participation and installation of smoke alarms, and describes the rate of fire and burn hazards observed in homes. Communities were randomly assigned to receive either a standard or enhanced home visiting program. Before implementing the program, 603 household surveys were completed to determine comparability between the communities.

Knowledge and injury prevention practices in homes of older adults.

This study aimed to describe the prevalence of preventive safety measures in homes with older, urban-dwelling adults; determine the relationship between sociodemographic variables and injury prevention measures; and describe older adults' knowledge of safety topics. Teams conducted interviews and home observations in 603 homes to confirm preventive safety measures. Households with older adults were rarely observed to have recommended smoke alarm (34%) or carbon monoxide coverage (22%).