Project: Reverse record setting out of control fire related death rate in Birmingham, Alabama

Client

The Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service Department, Birmingham, Alabama

Assignment

Create and implement a public education program encouraging the use of smoke detectors among a hard to reach group of individuals most likely to become a fire fatality statistic.

Target Markets

The very young, disabled, and elderly citizens of the Birmingham community, not presently protected by a smoke detector, schools, neighborhood presidents, and close relatives of the primary target markets.

Project Constraints

Limited personnel and financial resources available to communicate message within the community coupled with a tough market to reach and call to a specific action — obtaining and installing a working smoke detector.

Results

A five-year public education campaign bolstered by the free distribution of more than 30,000 smoke detectors. The campaign, funded through grants and contributions from local businesses tagged “Get Alarmed Birmingham”, sought to reach the target market through elementary school age children. It incorporated coloring books, puzzles, computer games, posters, public service announcements, TV and radio interviews, and a revitalization of the Department’s website to keep this important message at the forefront.

The outcome has been a significant reduction of fire related deaths in a community that had led the state and the nation in this grim statistic for five years prior to the launch of the campaign.