Navigating the Wisconsin State-Wide CRR Strategic Plan
Every firefighter knows the distinct, gut-wrenching sound of a PASS device chirping through smoke, or the heavy silence that hangs over a crew on the drive back from a challenging residential fire. For generations, the fire service has worn its responsiveness as a badge of honor. We are masters of the chaotic, aggressive firefight. But as the landscape of risk shifts beneath our boots, a sobering truth emerges: catching the fire is no longer enough. The true metric of modern fire service leadership isn’t just how fast we put the fire out, but whether we could have prevented it from starting in the first place.
Here in Wisconsin, our fire service is transitioning into a new era of proactive risk management. Leading this charge is the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS) Fire Prevention/Safety & Health Program. Our State-Wide Community Risk Reduction (CRR) Strategic Plan isn’t just another document meant to collect dust; it is our definitive North Star, to help us reduce priority risks in our beautiful state.
By moving beyond a purely reactive suppression mindset, our DSPS initiative is pushing the state toward a true “data first” culture. At the heart of this revolution is a powerful digital tool: WI CRAIG 1300.
Moving Beyond the ‘We’ve Always Done It This Way’ Mindset
For decades, community risk reduction was largely driven by intuition or tradition. We held open houses, educated our neighbors, handed out fire safety information during Fire Prevention Week, and hoped the message stuck. While well-intentioned, these efforts lacked precision.
The WI CRAIG 1300 tool, built on the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Community Risk Assessment Insight Generator platform, changes the game entirely. It serves as a centralized CRR resource designed to aggregate and analyze quality data. The mission is simple yet profound: to give Wisconsin fire departments the exact insights needed to reduce fire risk and limit civilian and firefighter casualties.
“Our team has established this initiative for the purpose of providing quality data to reduce fire risk and civilian and firefighter deaths throughout the state of Wisconsin.” — Wisconsin DSPS Strategic Plan
CRAIG 1300 allows us to peel back the layers of our response areas. It blends local Wisconsin incident data with demographic profiles and details about the built environment. This tool reveals exactly where our most vulnerable populations live, what types of structures are failing, and what specific behaviors are driving our fire trends. We are no longer guessing where the danger lies; the data maps it out for us.
Operationalizing the 5 Es
A strategic plan is only as good as its execution. To bridge the gap between abstract data and boots-on-the-ground reality, the Wisconsin strategic plan explicitly aligns its objectives with the five Es of Community Risk Reduction:
• Emergency Response: Data from CRAIG 1300 is analyzed to provide critical information on incident responses, resources, staffing, injuries, and fatalities, ensuring our response models match our actual risks.
• Education: Moving past generic messaging, the plan focuses on equipping departments with quality, demographic-targeted, age-appropriate, and evidence-based materials. This ensures consistent messaging across district lines. Which also includes utilizing the National Sound Off-Home Fire Safety Patrol Program throughout the State of Wisconsin, in five communities and fire departments.
• Engineering: By ensuring CRAIG 1300 provides highly accurate data, the state can better identify systemic structural or manufacturing risks, preventing or mitigating injury before a 911 call is even made.
• Enforcement: Quality data helps guide local legislation and assist communities with targeted inspections, audits, and identifying areas of chronic non-compliance.
• Economic Incentives: The plan actively ties CRR to funding initiatives. It educates agencies on securing grants for home visit smoke alarms, leveraging tax incentives for home residential sprinklers, and building powerful local partnerships.
Wisconsin CRR Five-Year Horizon
The Roadmap: Year One to Year Five
Our state-wide strategic plan lays out a clear, realistic five-year horizon built on collaboration, teamwork, commitment, and leadership.
Year One: Building the Foundation
The initial phase, year one was all about awareness and high-quality reporting. DSPS has been rolling out training opportunities across state conferences, including the State Fire Chiefs, State Fire Inspectors, and State Firefighters Conferences and offering webinars and in-person training opportunities. The immediate goal is to establish a baseline of accurate, timely incident reporting and use county data trends to attack the state’s top fire risks and firefighter injuries head-on.
Year Three: Formalization and Incentives
Our plan is currently in year three, and our focus has shifted to localized action. Fire departments are encouraged to formalize their own local CRR plans using consistent, evidence-based educational materials. This phase has also introduced financial strategies, educating departments on how to utilize grant opportunities and economic incentives. To celebrate local wins, the state has introduced awards within the Wisconsin Burning Reportand established an official statewide “CRR Day.”
Year Five: Institutional Culture
By year five, CRR will be woven into the very fabric of Wisconsin’s fire service identity. The plan outlines the creation of a state CRR expert network and speaker’s bureau to mentor and coach local communities. Crucially, DSPS has already partnered with the Wisconsin Technical College System to incorporate CRR training standards into all levels of fire service education from entry level firefighter up through firefighter I/II, fire officer I/II, and fire inspector.
A Call to Action for CRR to Make a Positive Impact on Your Community
Our communities are changing. Demographics are shifting, aging populations are growing, and construction methods are presenting newer, faster-burning challenges. We cannot fight tomorrow’s threats using only yesterday’s tactics.
Look at your community’s data trends. Engage your crews in identifying the top risks in your own backyard. By leveraging these state resources, we can build a measurable, accountable framework for a safer Wisconsin.
Let’s protect our vulnerable populations, let’s safeguard our crews, and let’s lead our departments into a proactive future. The data is waiting. The choice is ours.
Gary Peck is the Fire Prevention and Fire Department Safety & Health Coordinator for the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services, State Fire Program. A 34-year fire service veteran, he has served as a military, federal, and fire chief officer and helped develop Wisconsin's statewide Community Risk Reduction Strategic Plan and Fire Risk Reduction Tool. He is actively involved in state and national fire service initiatives, including serving as a National Fallen Firefighters Foundation Until Everyone Goes Home® State Advocate.
