SELMA - In May 2018, the Selma Health Care District granted the Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation $16,142.00 to bring the Fire Firefighters in Safety Education (F.I.S.E.) Program, a program that teaches fire safety and burn prevention to preschool and elementary school students, to the City of Selma.
In partnership with the Selma Fire Department, the Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation has reached more than 12,000 studentsenrolled in the eight elementary schools in the Selma School District with vital fire and burn prevention messages like “Stop, Drop and Roll,” Cool-A-Burn, Crawl Low and Go in Smoke, Importance of Smoke Alarms, Toys vs. Tools and How to Dial 911 since beginning the program since 2014.
“Before the initial grant in 2013, we as a small town fire department never had a standard, sustained, fire public education program due to budget and low staffing issues,” said Gerald Reeser, Selma Fire Department Firefighter/Paramedic and Fire Prevention Coordinator. “Through generous funding from Mrs. Robinson and the Selma Healthcare District and Dr. Fisher with the Selma School District, we were able to implement the F.I.S.E. program in the Selma School District in 2014, and thanks to these two groups, we will continue to support and ensure that this life saving education makes it to the community of Selma.”
The Firefighters in Safety Education (F.I.S.E.) Program includes a 30-minute presentation taught by active firefighters who volunteer to be trained to bring lifesaving information to their communities. Students take short, age-appropriate quizzes before the F.I.S.E. presentation to assess their safety knowledge, and again after the presentation. The goal of the program is to bring burn prevention education to “each child, each year,” as students retain more knowledge when they receive burn prevention education multiple times. Burn Prevention Education programs that reach each child repeatedly during their grade school years ensure that students retain the life-saving information.
“We are grateful to the Selma Fire Department and the Selma Health Care District for making burn prevention education a priority in the Selma community,” said Jennifer Radics-Johnson, Executive Director for the Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation. “Without our partnerships with the Selma Fire Department, Selma Health Care District and the Selma Unified School District, the Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation would not be able to reach the more than 3,000 K-5 students in Selma with life-saving fire and burn prevention education annually.”
The Selma Fire Department was established in 1889 as an all-volunteer fire department. Today the Department proudly protects over 24,000 people in an area of six square miles. The Department operates out of two fire stations that protect a wide range of commercial, business and residential property. The Selma Fire Department is a combination department that strives to minimize loss from fire, hazardous material incidents, natural disasters and other emergency situations while providing emergency medical services at the Emergency Medical Technician – Paramedic/ Engine. Selma’s ambulance service is provided by American Ambulance and covers over 150 square miles in and around Selma within Fresno County.
