A federal agency is giving the Vancouver Fire Marshal’s Office a $201,000 grant for fire prevention and safety. The grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency will support Vancouver’s Project Home Safe campaign, which offers public educational programming to reduce the frequency and severity of house fires. “Project Home Safe unites zero fire ignition strategies that focus on stopping a fire before it happens with reactionary fire safety education like fire escape planning, free home safety surveys and smoke alarm installation,” Vancouver Fire Marshal Heidi Scarpelli said in a press release. The Vancouver Fire Marshal’s Office launched Project Home Safe in 2015. Deputy fire marshals and Fire Corps volunteers go door to door showing residents common strategies to reduce the risk of home fires. The program focuses on three common fire risks: unattended cooking, cigarettes and candles. The department also points out risks associated with dryer lint traps, overloaded electrical outlets and hazards from fireplaces and wood stoves, according to a 2021 Columbian article.

Since the program’s inception, the department has reached more than 12,000 Vancouver households. “I am so grateful to FEMA and our city council for supporting this important and meaningful program,” Scarpelli said. “Preventing fires before they start is one of the cornerstones of our fire department’s mission.” The federal agency has given six similar grants to Vancouver in the last 10 years for a total of roughly $1.3 million. The most recent award was in 2021 for $219,000.