Mid-Atlantic Life Safety Conference

 
By Prevention & Life Safety Chair Debbie Gartrell
October 3, 2011
 

On September 27, 2011, the annual Mid-Atlantic Life Safety Conference was held at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Howard County, MD.

This years theme was "Remember, Prevent, Prepare." The keynote speaker this year
was Daniel Byrne, Firefighter/Paramedic from Burton Fire Protection District, Burton, South Carolina. Daniel's morning address was a very compelling presentation that tied the theme of Remember, Prepare, Prevent with the need to focus on preventing fires before they occur through stronger prevention efforts by emergency responders.

Workshop presentations were separated into five sessions in the morning and five sessions in the afternoon. The morning sessions were titled: "It Takes More Than Plastic Fire Hats", "Using Technology to Extend Your Audience", "What's New in the New 101", "Autism Awareness for the First Responder", and "Telling Our Story - Using Injury Data for Action". The afternoon sessions were titled: "The Myths and Miracles of Residential Sprinklers", "MFRI's Incident Command Simulation Center", "Consequences and Concerns of the Japanese Earthquake", The United States Fire Administration - A Gold Mine for Resources", and "Carbon Monoxide Hazards and Response".

After a delicious lunch was served the Life Safety Educator of the Year Award was presented to Peggy Webb, for her many years of work with fire prevention, being on various steering committees and creating and heading up the visual smoke alarm program. The Winfield VFD nominated Peggy for this award with a letter of support from Mike Love, President of FABSCOM. Bill Barnard, State Fire Marshal presented Peggy with a Governor's Proclamation, State Fire Marshals certificate and plaque. Congratulations Peggy - well deserved!