FIRE SAFETY EDUCATOR NANCY TRENCH RECOGNIZED FOR A LIFETIME OF COMMITMENT TO ADVANCING FIRE AND LIFE SAFETY EDUCATION

The Home Safety Council selected noted fire safety educator, Nancy Trench as the winner of the second annual Dr. Anne W. Phillips Award for Leadership in Fire Safety Education. Mrs. Trench received the award at the Congressional Fire Services Institute’s 20th Annual National Fire and Emergency Services Dinner at the Hilton Washington in Washington, D.C. on April 3, 2008.

With a career spanning the past three decades, Trench has earned respect as a visionary leader in the field of fire and life safety education and has been instrumental in the movement to institutionalize injury prevention education as part of the core mission of the fire service. Trench also played a critical leadership role in founding and organizing the annual Oklahoma Fire and Life Safety Education Conferences for more than 20 years, helping raise the skill level of public educators from her home state of Oklahoma, as well as those from every state in the nation, Canada and beyond.

“We are honored to recognize Nancy Trench’s lifetime of achievement with the 2008 Dr. Anne W. Phillips Award for Leadership in Fire Safety Education,” said Meri-K Appy, president of the Home Safety Council. “Her dedication to advancing cutting-edge fire service issues, together with her ability to translate innovative research into community practice, makes her an indisputable choice for the Home Safety Council’s annual award. Nancy has made a major contribution to fire safety in America, inspiring and preparing many in the fire and life safety field to do work of lasting significance.”

In her current role as Assistant Director at Fire Protection Publications at Oklahoma State University, Trench leads several research projects, exploring topics ranging from effective methods and materials used to teach fire safety to young children to the factors that impact the safety of the nation’s firefighters.

Trench has also leveraged her expertise in designing, implementing and evaluating fire and life safety education programs by fostering valuable partnerships to develop the Fire Safety Solutions for People with Disabilities program, which provides home fire safety education and smoke alarm installations for people who are deaf, hard of hearing, have low vision and those with mobility impairments and people with cognitive disabilities. Trench’s ongoing dedication to the Fire Safety Solutions research projects has yielded successful programs that promise to refocus the way the fire and life safety community approaches high-risk populations, including young children and people with disabilities.

About the Dr. Anne W. Phillips Award

Named for Dr. Anne Wright Phillips, the award honors her outstanding achievements as a champion of fire safety education and celebrates her role as a leader whose exemplary work in fire safety education has had a lasting impact on the nation's safety. As a member of the National Commission on Fire Prevention and Control, Phillips authored the 1973 Minority Report, an appendix to America Burning, pushing the Commission to recognize the important role of prevention in reducing fire injury and death. Throughout her life, Dr. Phillips has demonstrated an unwavering dedication to fire prevention and preparedness as the basis to strengthening fire safety education across the country. By naming the award in her honor, the Home Safety Council aims to keep the work and spirit of Dr. Phillips alive well beyond her lifetime by celebrating those who follow her example to move the field of fire safety forward.