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Using GIS to Evaluate a Fire Safety Program in North Carolina

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Abstract

Evaluating program impact is a critical aspect of public health. Utilizing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a novel way to evaluate programs which try to reduce residential fire injuries and deaths. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the application of GIS within the evaluation of a smoke alarm installation program in North Carolina. This approach incorporates national fire incident data which, when linked with program data, provides a clear depiction of the 10 years impact of the Get Alarmed, NC! program and estimates the number of potential lives saved. We overlapped Get Alarmed, NC! program installation data with national information on fires using GIS to identify homes that experienced a fire after an alarm was installed and calculated potential lives saved based on program documentation and average housing occupancy. We found that using GIS was an efficient and quick way to match addresses from two distinct sources. From this approach we estimated that between 221 and 384 residents were potentially saved due to alarms installed in their homes by Get Alarmed, NC!. Compared with other program evaluations that require intensive and costly participant telephone surveys and/or in-person interviews, the GIS approach is inexpensive, quick, and can easily analyze large disparate datasets. In addition, it can be used to help target the areas most at risk from the onset. These benefits suggest that by incorporating previously unutilized data, the GIS approach has the potential for broader applications within public health program evaluation.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the other members of the NC DPH IVPB including Ingrid Bou-Saada, Stephania Sidberry, and Alan Dellapenna for their guidance, support, and feedback during the writing of this article. In addition, we would like to specifically thank Sherri Troop for her insight, knowledge of the Get Alarmed, NC! Program, and passion for fire prevention and fire safety education. We would also like to thank the “Get Alarmed, North Carolina!” advisory board, specifically, Ernest Grant of the UNC Jaycee Burn Center, Kelly Ransdell and Allan Buchanan of the North Carolina State Fire Marshal’s Office, Mike Bowling of the Injury Prevention Research Center at UNC, and Jeanne Givens formerly of DPH IVPB. Their guidance and assistance made it possible for the project to successfully reach many of the local fire departments throughout the state. We could not have met and reached those most at risk of fire death and injury without the tireless efforts of those firefighters who work to save and educate local residents on fire prevention. Thank you to all those firefighters too numerous to name here!

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Injury and Violence Prevention Branch, NC Department of Health and Human Services, 5505 Six Forks Road, Bldg. 1, A-2, Raleigh, NC, 27609, USA

    Thomas Dudley, Kathleen Creppage & Scott Proescholdbell

  2. Injury Prevention Research Center, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 137 East Franklin Street, Suite 500, CB 7505, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-7505, USA

    Meghan Shanahan

Authors
  1. Thomas Dudley
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  2. Kathleen Creppage
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  3. Meghan Shanahan
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  4. Scott Proescholdbell
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Correspondence to Thomas Dudley.

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Dudley, T., Creppage, K., Shanahan, M. et al. Using GIS to Evaluate a Fire Safety Program in North Carolina. J Community Health 38, 951–957 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-013-9705-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-013-9705-x

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