CRIMINAL AND SOCIAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE

FIRE AND INJURY PREVENTION

WHEREAS, the #1 health risk for children ages 14 and under is not drugs or disease but rather injuries; and

WHEREAS, fire chiefs and fire departments across the nation have been working with the National Fire Protection Association and corporate sponsors from the insurance industry since 1989 on programs for preschoolers called Learn Not to Burn (Mis Primeros Pasos in Spanish); and

WHEREAS, the NFPA has also developed in-school curriculum for Risk Watch programs for grades 1 through 8 to teach children prevention of unintentional injuries from motor vehicles, fires and burns, choking, suffocation and strangulation, poisoning, falls, firearms, bicycle and pedestrian accidents, and water injuries; and

WHEREAS, the association provides notebooks, teacher training videos, audio tapes of music, student workbooks and other colorful professional materials to make these programs interesting to students and small children; and

WHEREAS, NFPA is preparing materials and advertising and preplanning kits for Fire Prevention Week and the Fire Drills: The Great Escape program for the week of October 8-14, 2000,

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that The United States Conference of Mayors urges its member cities and their fire chiefs to work with local schools to implement these outstanding fire and injury prevention programs and/or develop their own programs as part of their city contribution to local schools and education.