Fire Sense
Fire Sense is a state-sponsored campaign serving to educate Utah citizens and visitors on wildfire prevention. Fire sense is common sense. The trick is just using it. You already know coals or sparks plus dry grass equals a lot of trouble, so the next time you’re camping, shooting, or otherwise enjoying the great outdoors in this great state of ours, use your brain before things get too hot to handle.
MISSION: Getting Utahns to take personal responsibility for fire safety.
Messaging Strategy
To reach and influence an audience that already feels like it knows about fire safety, we framed our desired behaviors as “fire sense”. Instead of depicting the behaviors as restrictive, they become common sense – something this audience values highly.
Fire Sense has grown in the past few years
It is important to note that while the foundational strategy of Fire Sense may not have changed much in the last few years, the tactics and approaches we took each year did.
In year 1 of Fire Sense, we focused on helping Utah understand the problem they were facing. We identified the basics of Fire Sense and brought awareness to a solution for human-caused wildfires.
In year 2, we made education our top priority. By identifying the top 5 most important behaviors, we were able to make real progress in changing how Utahns behaved around fires and fire hazards.
In year 3, we took this education further by refreshing our messages and taking it directly to many of the markets and audiences that needed it most.
Years 4-5 of Fire SenseIn the future of Fire Sense, we aim to further educate through a more surgical distribution of our message and using new behavior change techniques to help people take personal responsibility for fire safety.
Expectations
Amplify messaging and start earlier to combat increases in wildfire fuels and seasonal severity
Educate the public about misperceptions and complacency due to higher fuel levels and early precipitation
Create plan for strategic reactivity depending on the upcoming year
Strengthen rural messaging, especially in high-risk counties
Provide strategic tools for fire mitigation among target audiences
Improve on-site messaging within wilderness/recreation settings
Expand statewide paid, social, earned, and non-traditional media marketing reach
Work with news networks to brand and highlight Fire Sense within network conversations
Expand target audiences to represent multicultural recreators
Run additional spring debris burning phase
Enhance opportunities for messaging from local fire suppression departments
Utah State Fair, Local Rodeos, Cattle Auctions, IFA, Scheels, Home Depot, TNT/Phantom Fireworks, University campuses, OTV retailers, state parks, and Jiffy Lube.
