The Virginia Department of Health, Center for Injury and Violence Prevention? will implement Get Alarmed, Virginia!, a smoke alarm installation and fire safety education? program, in two selected high-risk communities for each year of the five-year project in the? Commonwealth of Virginia. These high-risk communities will be selected through the? State's competitive negotiation process. High-risk communities will be identified as areas? whose populations are less than 50,000, have mean household incomes below the poverty? line, and fire-related fatal and non-fatal injuries and/or fire mortality and fire incidence rates? above the State and National averages. In addition, households with children under 5 and? elderly 65 and over will be targeted.? The Get Alarmed, Virginia! program will mobilize both public and private? organizations in a collaborative effort to reduce the number of residential fire-related injuries? and fatalities in identified high-risk communities and increase the capacity of local fire safety? education programs to address the prevention of fire-related injuries in their areas. Each? year, selected communities and local coordinators will organize community-based fire safety? coalitions and will develop and implement smoke detector installation programs for high-risk? populations in their area. Key personnel, both paid and volunteer, will be trained in fire -? safety education, proper installation, placement, and maintenance of smoke alarms.? Community-specific analyses will be conducted, which will include a map of all? fires, source of fires, fire injuries and fire deaths that occurred during the project period in the? target communities. Outcome and process evaluation will be conducted using a pre- and? post-survey tool, fire-incidence data, and grantee progress reports.
