Battles Fire Through Education : Garden Grove Woman Gets Firefighter Honor

The recipient of this year’s award as Orange County Firefighter of the Year battles blazes wearing high heels, a starched blue suit and perfectly manicured nails.

Ellen Covey, the first woman and non-front-line firefighter to receive the award, said it takes a special kind of training to fight fires her way: “I fight fires through education by trying to get people to overcome the ignorance and apathy that causes tragedies.”

A fire safety education specialist with the Garden Grove Fire Department, Covey said the leading cause of fires is human carelessness and the feeling that this kind of tragedy happens only to the other guy. “I have never known a fire victim who felt like it could happen to them,” she said.

Covey presents fire safety programs yearly to more than 25,000 people at schools, health care facilities, civic groups and work places. She said she takes particular pains to reach out to community groups who have special needs, such as the elderly, the handicapped and the Spanish speaking.

Her message, whether delivered in English or Spanish, is two-fold: Fires can happen to anyone, but they can also be survived by remaining calm and by practicing simple safety techniques.

Lists Hazards

Careless smoking, careless cooking, faulty wiring and illegal fireworks top the list of fire hazards, Covey said. Illegal fireworks are especially hazardous because of the many wooden shingle roofs that abound in Orange County, she said.

“Stop, drop and roll” are three words she would like implanted in the minds of the public. Those are the steps a fire victim should execute when trapped in a blaze. Another technique she recommends for those caught in a fire is to crawl toward a safe exit.

“These are things we have learned as children but forgot when we got older,” she said recently one morning at the Garden Grove Fire Department. She tells youngsters who participate in her education programs to pass on what they’ve learned to their parents and other older family members.

Covey, who has been with the department 10 years, last month was chosen from 19 candidates by the Orange County Fire Chiefs Assn. and the Orange County Firemen’s Assn., which have jointly sponsored the award ceremonies for four years.

Garden Grove Fire Chief Lon Cahill praised Covey’s efforts in reaching out to the public and said she earned the award because of her skills and dedication. “She’s reached literally thousands of residents and citizens with a safety message, and education is critically important,”’ he added.

Education Important

State Fire Marshal James McMullen said Covey is to be commended because public education is probably the single most important aspect of fire prevention. “Some things we can mandate through legislation, like smoke detectors,” he said in a phone interview from Sacramento. “But even with smoke detectors, we are still having fatalities because the public is not well educated. Public education saves lives and property. It is absolutely crucial.”

Although Covey has special tips for having a safe holiday, she said there is really no particular time of the year when fires occur most often. “Residential fires occur all year around,” she said. “The ones we hear about are the tragic ones that occur around the holidays, although they are all tragic.”

Some simple but life-saving precautions that Covey advocates during the holiday season are to keep Christmas trees away from fireplaces, make certain the tree’s water stand is filled with fresh water, discard broken or cracked light sockets, make sure all tree lights are off when no one is home and avoid the use of electric lights on metallic trees. Covey illustrates these tips and others in brochures she distributes throughout the community.

Covey encourages people to take emergency medical training classes such as cardiopulmonary rescucitation. “You know, everyone is saying the big earthquake is coming. Although I think positive, if it ever really does come there will be so much damage that it probably won’t be possible to reach for the telephone and dial 911. Not only should people take emergency medical training but they also should keep a fire extinguisher in both their homes and cars. After the earthquake, the biggest threat will be from fires and explosions.”

Born in Fullerton

Covey, 38, was born in Fullerton and has lived in Orange County all her life. Ever since she was a child, she said she has been fascinated with fire engines. “It is not just boys who grow up loving fire engines,” she said.

After she earned a degree in journalism from Cal State Fullerton, Covey began working part-time as a community relations reserve officer with the Fullerton Police Department. That position eventually led to a full-time job with the department as a community service officer. She joined the Garden Grove Fire Department in the newly created position of fire safety education specialist.

In her present job, Covey also writes news releases and designs brochures. She enjoys cartooning and creates much of the artwork for her booklets and brochures.

It hasn’t always been easy to be a woman working in a profession traditionally associated with men, she said. “I think there is always going to be an undercurrent of negative attitudes based on ignorance,” she said, but added that once most of the men in her department realized her commitment to fire education was strong, they were overwhelmingly supportive.

Although there are no women line firefighters at the Garden Grove Fire Department, Covey said it is only a matter of time.