Fire Department

Public Relations Toolkit

Prepared by

EVERY DEPARTMENT, EVERY LEADER

 Introduction

Dealing with the public and the media is not usually considered part of the firefighter’s
job description. However, it is becoming a more and more integral part of any depart-
ment’s livelihood. Presenting a good image provides many benefits for your department.
And any missteps are amplified by the sound chamber of the media. Be prepared and
proactive when dealing with the media, and your job will be much easier.

To help you, we’ve prepared the following materials:

How (and Why) to Build Great Media Relationships.............................................. pg. 2

How to Build a Media List......................................................................................... pg. 3

Sample Media List...................................................................................................... pg. 4

General Media Guidelines......................................................................................... pg. 5

How to Write a Great Press Release/Social Media................................................. pg. 6

Press Release Template............................................................................................. pg. 8

PSAs............................................................................................................................. pg. 9

Directory of Public Relations Resources................................................................ pg. 10

Fire Department Public Relations Toolkit 1

 How (and Why) to Build
Great Media Relationships

When dealing with the media, you should always aim to be proactive. Always seek to
develop a relationship with those who will be covering local events. Create a media
list, a list of journalists in your area that you will be working with. Offer to be a sub-
ject-matter expert for them, provide your own press releases and send them relevant
information when requested. That way, when issues do arise, you’ve already built a
relationship with the very person or people who will cover it, which can be a boon in
times of crisis.

Always try to understand things from their perspective. Like many professions, news
people are overworked and often have too little time to get their stories done. You want
to make their lives as easy as possible: don’t delay in returning their calls. If you don’t
have an answer handy, let them know that you’ll get back to them when you do get it.

Above all, appear helpful. Provide them with facts, either as a technical resource or on
specific cases, if possible. Reporters aren’t experts, and if you want them to get it right,
you have to help them.

Always present information in as few words as possible. This has many benefits, but the
most important here is that they neither have the time nor desire to rework what you’ve
said. If you’re dealing with a newspaper, offer to provide a photograph to accompany the
story. Make it easy on them, and they’ll make it easy on you.

Before speaking to a reporter, do your research, and have a fact sheet on hand. What
form this takes will depend you and the situation, but it should include the principle mes-
sage you’d like to get across and the most relevant facts.

Fire Department Public Relations Toolkit 2

 How to Build a Media List

A media list is a critical tool for your department’s PR efforts. Put simply, it is a list of
journalists in your area and their contact information. These are the people you’ll be
working with to share news about your department. A sample media list can be found
immediately following this list.

1. List the media outlets that you read, listen to, or watch. Do a web search and find
other local news outlets (don’t forget to include exclusively online news outlets).

2. As you build your list, divide it by the type of outlet (print, TV, etc.) and frequency
of publication (i.e. daily, weekly, monthly).

3. Once you have your list, find out who to contact in each organization. You can often
do this using a Google search and a quick phone call or two. You’ll want to collect
the following information:
■■ Media outlet name
■■ Contact name
■■ Phone number

■■ Email

■■ Fax

■■ Social media (twitter handle, etc)

■■ Address

■■ Deadline (journalists may request news be given, for example, a week before
a story goes to print)
■■ Circulation

■■ Miscellaneous notes

4. Always call and confirm that the contact information is correct, and introduce
yourself to the contact person.

5. Once you have your list created, you’ll want to check in every six months or so
and update any necessary information.

Fire Department Public Relations Toolkit 3

 Sample Media List

Name Contact Phone Email Address Address Deadline Fax Circulation Notes
Daily

111 E. 83rd Ave.

Anytown, USA
Sun Tribune John Doe 415-555-1237 [email protected] 46410 1 week before 415-555-1238 20,000
222 6th Ave.
The Suburban Anytown, USA
Times Jane Doe 510-555-6868 [email protected] 46321 1 week before 510-555-6877 25,000
321 Delila Dr.
The Countywide Anytown, USA
Times John Reporter 510-555-4545 [email protected] 46321 1 week before 510-555-4588 18,000
456 Main St.
Anytown, USA
City Tribune Jane Reporter 415-555-5432 [email protected] 46433 ! week before 415-555-5499 30,000

Weekly

123 First Ave.

Anytown, USA
Weekly Journal Sally Jones 510-555-5678 [email protected] 46999 1 week before 510-555-5644 14,000

Bi-weekly

55 Broadway
Anytown, USA 4 days before
CR Publications Jake Jacobs 415-555-3322 [email protected] 46789 either date 415-555-3380 12,000

Monthly

1829 7th Ave.

Anytown, USA
City Magazine Sally Smith 650-555-0987 [email protected] 46321 2 weeks before 650-555-0999 15,000

Television

456 Battery St.

Anytown, USA
KPIX Sam Smith 415-555-3322 [email protected] 46433 415-555-3355
987 Maple St.
Anytown, USA
KRON Mary Jones 415-555-7890 [email protected] 46433 415-555-7899

Online

878 Third Ave.

Anytown, USA
Fireonline.com John Jones 510-555-5678 [email protected] 46567 510-555-5644

Radio

234 10th Ave.

Anytown, USA
KRCW Jay Johnson 650-555-4567 [email protected] 46321 650-555-4590

Fire Department Public Relations Toolkit 4

 General Media Guidelines

Before giving a statement or interview:

■■ Always ask the topic, and if any specific information (such as statistics) will be
required.
■■ Double-check everything.

■■ Prepare this and other background information in a factsheet for yourself.

■■ Remain positive and non-combative. Don’t make negative comments about
others.
■■ Treat all news people well—build relationships, but not favorites.

■■ Remember: there is no such thing as off the record.

When giving an interview:

■■ Know the main points you want to express.
■■ When you answer the first question, segue into your main points.
■■ Use real stories, anecdotes, facts and figures.

■■ Remember to keep moving the interview in the direction you want it to go,

toward your main points.

■■ If you don’t have an answer, be honest, then segue into something you do

know, or your main point.

When doing a radio interview:

■■ Prepare yourself with background info, relevant facts, your main point, a
sound bite (if you prepared a press release on this subject, you may have one
already prepared).
■■ Speak in your normal, conversational voice. Be yourself and be personable.

■■ Speak in short, direct sentences.

When doing a television interview:

■■ Always look calm, comfortable and presentable when going on television.
■■ Don’t talk to the camera, talk to the reporter.
■■ Speak in short, sound bite sized sentences. They will edit this interview before

it airs.
■■ Don’t refer to a handout. This does not look good on TV. You’re going to have

to prepare beforehand and draw your facts from memory.

Fire Department Public Relations Toolkit 5

 How to Write a
Great Press Release

Putting the best foot forward is crucial in our ever-more media conscious society. In
order to do that, you want to have a proactive presence in the media, providing updates
on the good things your department is doing and how you’re helping the community.
The best way to share this information with the public is through the tried-and-true press
release.

It can be surprisingly easy to write effective press releases—if you understand the
individual parts and prepare accordingly. News people are overworked and if you can
provide them with something newsworthy they don’t have to rewrite, they’ll reward
you by sharing it, sometimes verbatim. This is the real power of the press release: your
words will be shared with their audience.

If you still aren’t a believer, then check out Conan O’Brien’s recurring Newscasters
Agree segment. Want to know how it is that new stations across the country happen
to say the exact same thing? Someone crafted an excellent press release, and all of the
stations went ahead and aired it because (1) they didn’t have to rewrite it and (2) they
didn’t have to rewrite it.

So, now that you see what a press release can do, you want to create one for your orga-
nization. To do it effectively, you need:
■■A clear topic/event in mind—don’t try to jam too much into one press release.
Ask yourself:
• What is the news/event?
• Why is it newsworthy?
• If this is an event, what are the dates, times and deadline to apply/register?
■■A strong headline—If you’re going to spend time anywhere, spend it here. If
people don’t read your press release, it’ll be difficult to reach them.
■■A sound bite—This is a catchy introductory sentence or two designed to provide
the newsperson who reads your press release with a chunk of their work already
done. To get an idea of what this means, see the Conan segment above.
(continued on next page)

Fire Department Public Relations Toolkit 6

 ■■A powerful quote—Before you start writing, make Once your press release is written, proofed, checked
sure you have a quotable quote: something that is and double-checked, here are some possible avenues to
short, adds insight to the issues, and sounds more release it. This will depend on the scope of your public rela-
conversational than scripted. tions campaign. Here’s where a well-developed and current
■■ An organizational description—The good news is media list will be invaluable.
you’ll only have to write this once and use it for all ■■ Your website (when uploading to your website,
your press releases. Tell the story of your include embedded links where relevant).
department and its goals in no more than four ■■ Local news (newspaper, regional magazine, TV,

sentences. Be sure to include the URL to your etc.).

department’s web site. ■■ A press release newswire. There are many web

sites where you can post your press release. For

That’s it. Once you have those pieces, the press release
example, www.prnewswire.com.
will write itself. If you would like to see examples of press ■■ Finally, get the word out through your own social
release templates, see the template in this guide or go
media announcement.
here: http://www.iccsafe.org/safety/pages/media.aspx
Looking for press release ideas?
The (not so) fun part: proofing, checking, and double
checking.
■■ Fire safety week
■■ Holiday fire safety
This is a critical step when dealing with the media. You ■■ Home safety

want all contact information to be correct, as well as any ■■ Fundraising events

numbers or other date you provide. A small slip up here ■■ Summertime safety (grills, etc)

can be a big black eye later, so take the extra time here and ■■ Smoke alarms

save yourself the headache. ■■ Fire department funding or other issues where

the department needs community backing

If you don’t have one, buy a copy of the Associated Press
■■ Firefighter hiring, promotions and retirements
Stylebook. It will help you with grammar, word use and
■■ Firefighters helping in the community outside the
special style uses media outlets prefer. Having your news
scope of emergency response
release conform to AP style will go a long way to getting it
published.

Social Media
Social media is becoming an increasingly integral part of our lives. For your organization, you’ll want to make sure
you have a strong social media policy in place to ensure that you’re in control of how your department is perceived.
■■ Ensure that everyone knows that they are representatives of the department, even when they aren’t in
uniform.
■■ Limit the number of people who can update your department’s official social media policies, ideally just one

or two.
■■ Avoid negative remarks about people, organizations, and events.

■■ Always promote your activities.

■■ Share useful tips when you don’t have anything specific to write about.

Fire Department Public Relations Toolkit 7

 Press Release Template

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date INSERT FIRE DEPARTMENT LOGO

Contact Person

Contact Person’s info

Headline (A short, catchy headline)

Subhead (longer, with additional details)

City, State —(always include City, State and an em dash (—) before the first sentence) The sound bite and introduc-
tion: summarize the press release here, just the basic information

The Body: This is where you expand upon the who, what, where, when, and why, also always include the quote you’ve
prepared. This section will often be more than one paragraph, be sure to keep the quote towards the top.

Organization’s Information: In the final paragraph, you want to include a preapproved, short paragraph length stock
description of your organization and its history. This will usually not be unique to each press release, but it will appear on
all of them.

You will generally want to keep press releases as short as possible and always aim for under a page. Those seeking more
information will contact the person you identify at the top.

###

(these hashmarks indicate the end of the press release)

Fire Department Public Relations Toolkit 8

 PSAs

Public Service Announcements (PSAs) can help position you and your department as a
vital resource for the community. In addition, they are of great educational value. PSAs
can come in various forms. Print PSAs can be distributed at events in the community,
either hosted by the fire department or not. Radio and Television PSAs are often
aired for free, but usually only when a station has commercial time that has not been
purchased.

The U.S. Fire Administration has a wide array of PSAs available in all three formats, as
well as helpful tip on how to achieve a better reach with them.

Getting Your PSAs Out into the Community

Make a list of media outlets in your area. Not just newspapers and TV stations, but also
neighborhood newsletters and other smaller outlets.

Contact people inside of each outlet that you can speak to about getting your PSAs out
into the community. The telephone is still the best option, allowing you to make your
case in a more personal way than email or fax. Some outlets and publication have spe-
cific rules for submissions, so be sure to check.

When pitching your PSA to a media outlet, include a simple letter explaining the PSA
and why or how it relates to the issues faced by your community; include the PSA, and
information about your department.

Always follow up offering to answer questions, or provide additional information. If the

outlet agrees to run your PSA, make sure to note when and or how so that you can both
promote it and track the success of your campaign.

Fire Department Public Relations Toolkit 9

 Where to Find the
Resources You Need:
A Comprehensive Guide
Identifying your pubic relations needs is the first step, but developing them yourself can
be costly, and may require skills unavailable within your department. Luckily, there is a
wide range of media resources available you to use. These resources can save you time
and provide your community with professional quality, topical media.

The National Fire Service Resource Guide

www.nvfc.org/files/documents/National-Fire-Service-Resource-Guide-2013.pdf
This is an excellent place to start. Use its chapter on media relations as a starting point.

The International Code Council’s Public Relations for Building and Fire Officials
www.iccsafe.org/safety/pages/media.aspx
Here, you’ll find prepared press releases on a variety of topical and seasonal subjects
such as: holiday tree safety, snow loads, and summer safety tips. With a little cus-
tomization, you can prepare press releases in a fraction of the time.

The International Code Council’s Building a Media Relationship

www.iccsafe.org/safety/Documents/MediaRelations.pdf
A short media relations primer filled with best practices and talking tips that cover a
variety of media relations situations. Be prepared for the media, and they’ll make it
easy on you.

The U.S. Fire Administration

www.usfa.fema.gov/media/
A repository of approved media campaigns, tips for news stories, but most impor-
tantly, a free to use, high-quality archive of stock photos and B-Roll footage that any
fire department can use to strengthen their PR media. They also have prepared PSAs
that include print, radio, video, and social media elements.

The National Volunteer Fire Council’s Social Media Page

www.nvfc.org/hot-topics/social-media-policies
A collection of resources for and by fire departments relating to social media, how to
use it, how not to, and how to make the most of it.

Consider bringing on a community volunteer to help with your department’s public

relations.

Fire Department Public Relations Toolkit 10