By Jeremy D. Wells
Carter County Times
Lily Gilbert has been a junior firefighter with the Grahn Volunteer Fire Department since last July, but she learned how dangerous fires could be long before that. And she wanted to do something about it.
“I saw firsthand all the fires in my community, and I hated seeing that,” Gilbert explained. “And I wanted to do something about it. So, I started a fire prevention project, the FAST project, which stands for fire awareness safety tactics.”
The program uses a website and Instagram posts to disseminate information about fire prevention and safety from other state organizations. This includes information that can help prevent not only structure fires, but also wildland fires, Gilbert explained.
“I have a website that I promote through Instagram and pamphlets,” Gilbert said.
The site includes information she’s received through National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) regional manager for Kentucky, Bobby Dawson.
“He gives me the information that I put out for the community,” Gilbert said. “And then, I also put statistics and stuff that I get from here local, just the statistics and stuff that I get here local, from the local fire departments. I think of myself as a middleman between NFPA and the community.”
She said you can access the information from the project’s Instagram page or search for them on Facebook. You can also scan the QR codes on their flyers to be directed to their website, and can find links to their social media and YouTube accounts there.
The website and project earned Gilbert a first place win in the individual project category at the Kentucky Association of Academic Competition (KAAC) Community Problem Solving Group state level competition last month. But Gilbert said preventing tragedy was more important than the trophy. As she noted earlier, it’s something she’s been aware of for a while. Her father was already a firefighter before she became interested in joining as a junior firefighter, and she remembers a couple of fires that made a real impression on her.
“There was one particular fire that happened near me… and it was a house that actually had nine dogs in it – the mom, dad, and all the puppies – and none of them made it. And that touched me,” she noted.
Tragic as that was, though, there was another that showed Gilbert how important it was to understand how fire moves, and how important it was to show others how to avoid losing control of outdoor fires, like burning brush or campfires.
“There was another one where it was a brush fire, the year before I joined almost to the date, and it was this lady that was unhoused. She was burning brush, and it got away from her. She was trying to control it, and the fire got ahead of her, and she unfortunately passed.”
If sharing this information can prevent just one more incident like either of those, she said, building out the site and maintaining the Instagram page has been time well spent.
Contact the writer at editor@cartercountytimes.com
