Vancouver Fire Marshal’s Office receives $219K FEMA grant

The Vancouver Fire Marshal’s Office received nearly $220,000 in federal funds this year to continue its recurring outreach campaign aimed at preventing residential fires.

The program, Project Home Safe, allows deputy fire marshals and Fire Corps volunteers to go door-to-door and talk with residents and homeowners about simple ways that they can reduce the risk of starting a fire at home.

It started in 2015 and has since reached more than 10,000 Vancouver households.

“Project Home Safe unites zero fire ignition strategies that focus on stopping a fire before it happens to reactionary fire safety education like fire escape planning, free home safety surveys and smoke alarm installation,” Vancouver Fire Marshal Heidi Scarpelli said in a media release on Monday.

The $219,818 in FEMA funds is the sixth such allotment from the federal agency. Since 2012, the Vancouver Fire Marshal’s Office has received a little more than $1 million for risk-reduction programs.

Project Home Safe highlights the three most common causes of preventable residential fires: unattended cooking, cigarettes and candles. It also looks to educate residents on other risky sources that are easy to overlook: dryer lint traps, overloaded electrical outlets and ashes from fireplaces and wood stoves.

Residents looking for more information can also access a self-guided fire safety home checklist online at cityofvancouver.us/fire/page/fire-prevention-information-residents.

“I am so grateful to FEMA and our city council for supporting this important and meaningful program,” Scarpelli said. “Preventing fires before they start is one of the cornerstones of our fire department’s mission.”