Community Fire and Risk Prevention Assignment
The purpose of this assignment is for you to apply the concepts and information that you have learned in this unit about the position of a Community Fire and Risk Prevention Officer. This assignment provides you with the opportunity to use your skills, expertise, and experience to enrich your response when compiling data that will be used for risk reduction within the community. You will need to consider several components or elements of research and data gathering.
The outcome of your research will provide you with two profiles: demographic and risk. In order to develop a course of action to be undertaken in an effort to reduce risk, you must first gather sufficient data relative to the demographics of your community. Once you have gathered and analyzed the demographics, you will move to the second component of identifying both types of risks: human-created and naturally-created.
This project requires you to act in the position of Community Fire and Risk Prevention Officer. Your final analysis and narration should be written in a professional and educated format, as this paper might be presented to public and private
FIR 3303, Introduction to Fire Prevention 6
organizations, which have input and/or responsibility for pre-planning, preparedness, and mitigation of potential risks and their outcome as it effects the community.
Part A: Identify your community’s demographic profile. Click here to visit the United States Census Bureau’s webpage. In the center of the opening page, you will find a box with the title “Quick Facts.” Inside the Quick Facts box is a drop-down menu titled, “Select a state to begin.” Click on the drop-down menu, and select your respective state of residence. On the next page, you will find two drop-down boxes, one for all counties, and the other for all cities/towns in your state.
First, select your county of residence. Then, using a Word document, identify all of the characteristics of a Demographic Profile as found on page 229 of the textbook. There are three primary headings: Housing/Location, People, and Economic Information. Within these three, there are 16 sub-characteristics. Locate the data associated, or as closely associated, to each of the sixteen sub-characteristics, and create a demographic profile. Here is an example of how our outcome might look:
1. Housing/Location
- Owner or renter-occupied units
- Age and condition of structures
- Percentage of vacant/abandoned or blighted structures
You will repeat this format for each of the three primary characteristics, all of which should fit onto a single page. Remember to use the outline format. If the census data is not available for a specific characteristic, do not invent the data as doing so will skew the outcome and invalidate your data analysis. Once you have completed this portion, move on to Part B below.
Part B: Using the same webpage, click the drop-down menu, “Select a city,” and select your respective city/town. Following the exact same format as used in Part A, create a new page (best to append it to the previous page(s) by simply tapping the “enter” key, or holding down the “control” (ctrl) while pressing “enter,” advancing line spacing to begin a new page). Remember to address all three primary characteristics and all sixteen sub-characteristics. Once you have completed Part B, move on to the final segment-art C.
Part C: For this segment, you will need to rely on your personal knowledge of your community. You must identify as many potential risks that might adversely affect your community and how your fire prevention bureau could best alleviate the risks. You will need to first identify all possible risks that would be human-created risks then identify all possible naturally- occurring risks. You will itemize these risks under their appropriate heading on a new page. Again, you must utilize the outline format.
You do not need to identify human-created risks possibilities by company name, owner name, or street location. Simply identify the type of potential risk posed. Include the hours of operation (if possible), the type of risk being posed, and the area surrounding the location of the risk. Include information relative to potential life-threating risks such as nursing homes, schools, hospitals, and dense residential neighborhoods.
Once completed, identify potential naturally-occurring risks associated to your specific geographical region. These are likely to be few in number and should be added to the end of the list from above.
Your paper must be a minimum of three full pages and not more than five full pages of written text. You must follow APA formatting. In-text-citations are not required, however, a properly written and formatted reference citation will be needed. Part C is understood to originate from your own knowledge of the community; therefore, no citations are warranted.
