Jennifer Pritchett
Northern News Services

NNSL (Nov 30/98) - Fire chiefs across the NWT are learning the ABCs of public education when it comes to fire and accident prevention.

In an effort to decrease the NWT's astronomical number of fires and arson every year, fire departments, like others across North America, are taking a proactive approach to fire prevention.

And, this is what several Northern fire chiefs were learning how to do in Yellowknife earlier this month. A dozen or so firefighters from across the NWT took part in a four-day workshop that was a follow up to the fire-setter's conference held last year.

"We've learned a lot," said Rankin Inlet fire Chief Roger Aksadjuak who took the training last week.

Rankin Inlet, not unlike a lot of Northern communities, has had a number of fires this year, several of which were intentionally set.

"This training will help us when we go back to our own fire departments," added Aksadjuak.

Beverly Burns, an Arizona-based fire department public educator who conducted the workshop, said fire prevention is a worldwide issue that more and more departments are starting to emphasize more.

"It's becoming part of the battle," she said. "They (firefighters) used to come in and show the fire truck and say that's public education. Fire safety is becoming very predominant."

Burns, who has been educating children in schools and adults in their homes for 16 years, said the same problems exist across North America and they can all share some of the same education techniques.

"The problems are the same (wherever you go) -- you just look at your community needs and how you're going to deal with them," she said.

And, part of what she taught at the workshop was to educate the firefighters on different techniques for different age groups.

"I don't know if there's anything that you wouldn't teach an age group, but you would just do it differently -- make it relevant," she said.

This brand of public and fire prevention education may be the only way there is to put a serious dent in the number of fires in the North.

"There is a natural curiosity, but kids aren't aware that they can't control it," she said.

They have to be taught different, she added.