Fire Prevention Education and Outreach

The Hopkins Fire Department offered free home fire safety visits for families with translation needs in Hopkins, and ECHO’s bi-lingual spokespeople accompanied the Fire Department inspectors as an effort to reach out to households and provide fire prevention education.

 

WHY?  Because over 17% of families in Hopkins speak a language other than English at home, according to the 2010 US Census.  Knowing fire safety and recognizing fire hazards at home is important for ALL families.  The City of Hopkins Fire Department this spring and summer has reached out to families that speak a primary language other than English at home, and has teamed up with ECHO Minnesota for a successful outreach effort.  

 

To communicate fire safety and prevention in different languages, a firefighter from the Hopkins Fire Department has visited non-English speaking homes with a bilingual spokesperson from ECHO Minnesota to conduct a free 30-minute home fire safety visit.  With the family’s consent, the firefighter looked for any fire and safety hazards and inform the owner or tenants so they can be addressed, and offered suggestions on how to fix any safety hazards, as well as be offering free carbon monoxide alarms, smoke alarms, and surge protectors for the home.  

 

This was a rewarding experience for ECHO, the fire department, and the families participating in this project.  This was also a unique and exciting partnership of community and safety resources, and both ECHO Minnesota and the City of Hopkins Fire Department were thrilled to spread the message of fire safety and prevention.

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