J-FIRE OF WNY, INC.
About J-FIRE
J-FIRE is Western New York's juvenile fire intervention program. J-FIRE is centrally located at 2252 William Street near Harlem Road. J-FIRE was founded in 1991 by James Guy after a tragic fire took the life of a young mom, Melissa Rydell, and her two sons, Warren and David. One or both of the boys were playing with her lighter.
Although fire play and fire setting has been a concern for the fire service for years, there was no program in place, in Erie County, to deal with the fire play and fire setting cases that were occuring in the Western New York area. Jim Guy wanted to prevent another loss of inocent lives due to juvenile fire play.
Many persons were instumental in the formation of J-FIRE in 1991.Some of those same people are still involved in the program, today, in 2006. The program is recognized, Statewide, and has become an example for many other juvenile fire intervention programs, including Kansas City and a small community within Allentown, Pa.
The program coordinator, Michelle Bliss, has been with the program since its inception. She became the coordinator in 1997, working to bring the program to the next level. The program now serves as a juvenile fire intervention program as well as a fire safety education program.
J-FIRE Updates
J-FIRE is a not-for-profit organization that survives on grants and donations. At one time, J-FIRE's biggest financial supporter was the County of Erie. The County provided the coordinator's salary, office space and all utilities and office supplies. That support was eliminated in July of 2003. We ended up on the cutting board even before the Red Budget.
But, in the year 2003, J-FIRE was able to secure a FEMA grant, which allowed J-FIRE to move into their own office and hire a staff to help with the demands of the growing program. With the continuing help of the fire departments and companies that support J-FIRE with their sustaining memberships, J-FIRE was able to move forward and conduct more interventions and attend more community programs, with and without the Kid's Fire Safety House.
The grant ran out at the end of 2005, but J-FIRE used their funds and donations wisely and were able to continue their programs with few obstacles.
Now in August of 2007 J-FIRE is facing one of the worse things that could happen to the program. They are running out of funds and have been denied funding from FEMA, the County and the past foundations that have received funding requests. The program will lose the central location. The coordinator is already working on an almost total volunteer basis, working another job to pay her own personal bills. FEMA stated that the program did not state the financial impact that it would have on the community. Well if we had to charge the government for the programs that we are doing for free, it would run over seventy-thousand dollars a year. We don't even take in enough donations to file income tax, which is a minimum of twenty-five thousand. And we still pay all of our bills and a very minimal compensation for mileage and expenses for our office workers, when we can.
The interventions will continue to be conducted by the dedicated J-FIRE volunteers. Unfortunately the community safety program will not be able to continue unless funding becomes available. The program will have to give up its office and move elsewhere. J-FIRE is going to continue it's program as the Juvenile Fire Intervention, Response and Education program of WNY, Inc. that it began in 1992. We will not let down the Melissa Reidel's in WNY. We will be there to help educate the children that fire is a tool for grown-ups, not a toy for kids on a one on one basis for as long as we can and help the fire departments teach the children this valuable lesson with our specially trained interventionists.
If you would like to donate to J-FIRE, please send your check or money order to: J-FIRE of WNY, Inc.
2252 William Street
Buffalo, NY 14206
All donations are tax deductible.
Anyone wishing to hold a fund raiser for J-FIRE, please contact Michelle @ 716-896-1113.
Our Vision That Every Child Can Wake Up and See A Sunset Every Day
Fire is a tool, not a toy! Teach your children not to play with Matches and Lighters. Matches and Lighters should be put out of reach of children. If your children know where you keep your emergency matches, Move Them! If your children are playing with the knobs on the stove, Remove Them! If your children are taking your lighter from your cigarettes, keep it on you at all times. Remember you are the role model for your child; what you do, your child will do, eventually.
2008 UPDATE
J-FIRE has had to say good-by to their beloved Safety House. Without the funding and the full-time staff, it became impossible to schedule and maintain the house and utilize it to the best for the community. The Marilla Fire Company has purchased the house and is making it available to the community for a users fee. We thank Marilla for helping J-FIRE by purchasing the Safety House and keeping it in the Western New York area. We are confident that they will take real good care of it and teach as many children and adults as we did.
This now gave J-FIRE some funds to continue the intervention program and the preschool program that they began three years ago. Although the preschool program still needs funding for staff and additional materials, we are continuing to work on securing additional funds so that the program will not dissolve and will remain at it's current location on William Street.
Our Success Stories
Every organization has their ups and downs and every programs has their goods and bads. J-FIRE has had many success stories in their time. Although we cannot divulge the names of our successful children, let me mention three children that we are very proud of .
Child # 1 had a long history of fire play. They also had many disabilities to overcome. J-FIRE volunteers met with #1 on numerous occassions, talking about the dangers of fire play. Our talks did good for a while and then #1 would go off and play with lighter or matches again. #1 did a big turn around and we are proud to say that they are no longer playing with fire, no longer worrying mom that they were going to burn the house down and #1 has been sent a certificate as a junior fire marshall for not playing with fire anymore.
Child #2 knew what to do when her house caught on fire. The babysitter got the two young brothers out safely, but #2 grabbed the phone and called 911. She gave the dispatcher all of the correct information which directed the fire department right to her home. They knew exactly where the fire was and was able to contain the fire to that part of the house. The chief and J-FIRE honored #2 at a school fire safety program for remembering what she learned in the safety house and giving the right information to the dispatcher when calling 911.
Child #3's mom called to tell us how proud she was that her child sat through an intervention after she had caught them playing with a lighter they had found in the playground. Mom wasn't sure that her child would understand the whole intervention as they were rather young. A week after the intervention #3 called mom's attention to a lighter that they found outside on the sidewalk. #3 told mom exactly what they were told to do in the family contract. Mom said she is confident that she doesn't have to worry about her child setting her house on fire and she can sleep easier now.
These are three of our successes. There are many more. They are better than the three deaths that we had which started the program. We want to keep the successes, don't you?
