Glendale Fire Department details community risk reduction: CPR, Fire PALS and seasonal water-safety

Ashley Christman, community risk reduction program manager with the Glendale Fire Department, told attendees she focuses on data-driven outreach to reduce unnecessary emergency responses and teach life-safety skills.

Christman said her role is "getting out into the community, providing education" to staff, residents and the youth who attend Glendale schools. "My main position is really looking at the data, and we generate programs to hopefully reduce those calls that might not be necessary for the firefighters to go to," she said, describing the department's goal of lowering nonessential dispatches through prevention and education.

The department emphasizes hands-only CPR as a core part of workplace and public safety training. Christman said teaching CPR helps make sure people "have that tool in their toolbox," and noted the department usually begins outreach sessions with CPR instruction.

Christman described the Fire PALS school program, in which firefighters visit kindergarten through fourth-grade classrooms to "talk about fire and life safety." She said talking with children is an effective way to extend safety messages to parents. The department also runs seasonal water-safety lessons in the spring that mirror the fire-safety curriculum.

Community engagement elements accompany the instructional programs. Christman pointed to a kids table where children can pick up a fire hat during events and said she enjoys interacting with "our youngest preschoolers all the way to some of our oldest adults," signaling a multi-generational approach to outreach. She closed by praising the "family aspect" of working across the Glendale Fire Department on these efforts.

No formal actions or policy changes were proposed during the presentation; the session focused on ongoing public-education programs and the department's stated aim to reduce nonessential emergency calls through preventive measures.