2024 ANNUAL REPORT - Final

14

OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR

Administration and Communication (continued)

Community Outreach and Public Education

The Frederick County Division of Fire & Rescue Services (DFRS) remained focused on enhancing our community outreach and public education initiatives in 2024. Throughout the year, DFRS personnel attended 429 public appearances; 200 of these appearances were public education sessions, which primarily took place at schools, childcare facilities, summer camps, senior centers, and public libraries. Following public education sessions, community events (99), career presentations & job fairs (53), and station tour s (38) were the Division’s most requested appearances. October, National Fire Prevention Month, was the peak month for appearances, with 95 total; followed by April (52), May (52), and September (40).

The Community Outreach section continued to finalize the process for submitting Community Appearance Request Forms and added in feedback surveys to gather insight on how to improve our programs and better understand the impact of our appearances. The results from the surveys show that respondents rated their overall experience with the public education sessions as a 4.98 out of 5. One hundred percent of respondents reported being satisfied or very satisfied with the content, structure, and organization of the presentation, as well as the knowledge and friendliness of the personnel. All respondents also indicated they were very likely to request another session in the future and would recommend the program to others.

With the development of our Strategic Community Partner Liaison (SCPL) team in 2023, DFRS has enhanced its relationships with many community organizations by regularly attending their evens and programs. Through this initiative, a designated uniformed DFRS member serves as a direct liaison to a specific community group, so we are better able to understand and address their specific fire and life safety needs. Most notably, we have expanded our partnerships with:

• • •

City Youth Matrix,

Centro Hispano de Frederick, and The Frederick Rescue Mission

14