​​By John Ehret — Fire Service Supervisor and Kathi Osmonson — Fire Educator ​

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety State Fire Marshal Division (DPS-SFMD) embarked on a five-year campaign, in January 2020, to reduce smoking-related fire fatalities in Minnesota by 30 percent. As with any campaign, evaluation measures are built into the plan based on specific, measureable, achievable, realistic and timely (SMART) goals. 

So what's been done and where are we now? 

Formative objectives and evaluation:

• DPS-SFMD coordinated with stakeholders on messaging and partnerships.
• DPS-SFMD brainstormed ideas and realized we need deeper data and a plan for paid advertising.
• DPS-SFMD contracted with Urban Logiq to analyze Minnesota's fire data and create a platform integrated with demographic information. This process is underway and a useable dashboard should be available for fire department use by this summer.
  
• DPS-SFMD contracted with Linnihan Foy to create graphics for the campaign. They posted the graphics at points-of-purchase, gas stations and convenience stores and aired radio spots statewide in March and April 2021.
  

Process objectives and evaluation:

• State Fire Marshal James Smith started sharing the message with Department of Public Safety (DPS) staff, local media and fire departments at regional meetings and announced the initiative in our January 2020 newsletter. Educators and Fire Service Specialists continue to share the messages at county and regional meetings and conferences.
• The DPS Office of Communications (DPS-OOC) created blogs and set up social media blasts that continue to this day. They created news release templates and other items for the fire service to use in this effort. DPS-OOC also created a short video on the topic during a live-burn at an acquired property.
• The SFMD had “slap-koozies" (made with the Linnihan Foy graphics) to distribute at the 2021 Auto Show and other venues.
• Educators regularly send email updates to chiefs and local fire department educators about available materials. If you are not receiving these please let them know. 

​​What are the numbers saying now? The confirmed smoking-related fire fatalities in Minnesota for the most recent five years are as follows:

• 2017 – 11
  
• 2018 – 10
  
• 2019 – 10
  
• 2020 – 8
  
• 2021 – 6 (preliminary; further results are pending) 
  

We continue to strive to meet our ambitious goal of decreasing smoking-related fire fatalities by 30 percent within five years. The pandemic shut-down presented challenges with some of our plans,​ but we continue to strive toward our goal. Our objectives and evaluation metrics will evolve as part of a normal program cycle. That said, we need your help! Please see the article “Time to Put a Stop to Smoking-Related Fire Fatalities" in this newsletter, or contact your educators: Kathi Osmonson, or Bob Reif​ in the north.​​​​​