If you smoke, put it out. 
All the way. Every time. 

Smoking & Home Fires: A campaign to prevent the #1 cause of home fi re deaths. 

United States Fire Administration
16825 South Seton Avenue 
Emmitsburg, MD 21727 

www.usfa.dhs.gov/smoking (English)
www.usfa.dhs.gov/fumar (Spanish) 

Working with the Media 

Your local media is a great vehicle for reaching a large audience and relaying fire-safety messages pertaining to the Smoking & Home Fires Campaign. The following tips will help you get results from the media. The Toolkit CD also includes sample media materials that you can adapt to put on the enclosed campaign letterhead or your organization’s letterhead. 

Get Media Results from Materials and Spokesperson Interviews 

•Send the enclosed news release announcing your organization’s new Smoking & Home Fires Campaign to the assignment desks of all newspapers, radio and television stations in your area. E-mail is the preferred means of sending releases. 

• Call local TV and radio stations and speak with the assignment editor (TV) or news director (radio). Alert them to the campaign. Offer to fax or e-mail them the campaign fact sheet – and send the news release again if necessary. 

• Make similar calls to the newspaper editors and reporters who cover “fire” and “personal health and safety” beats and offer to e-mail, fax or deliver materials in person. 

• Designate a campaign spokesperson and offer the media interviews with him or her. 

• Facts and personal stories are what make a news story. Review the campaign’s messages (see “Talking Points for Community Presentations”) and use the statistics about smoking-related home fire deaths. 

• Offer television stations the enclosed video clip of a smoking-home fire, which will help enhance their story. 

• Talk about a recent local fire in the interview. A story that people can relate to makes the story more powerful, and relays the importance of fire safety. 

• Have your spokesperson practice the messages before conducting the interview. 
Ask Radio Stations to Air the Campaign Public Service Announcement (PSA) 

• Adapt the sample radio script in the Toolkit CD to your organization/department. 

• Send the script to public service directors at your local radio stations along with a cover letter (see “Sample Media Cover Letter”) on your department’s letterhead or the enclosed campaign letterhead. 
The cover letter describes the campaign and asks for the radio station’s support.

• Call the public service directors to confirm they’ve received the PSA script and tell them briefly why this campaign is so important. Follow-up can make all the difference!

• Offer to provide an organization or fire department spokesperson to record the radio PSA. The station may prefer for an announcer to use it as a “live-read” script.


Ask Local Newspapers and Magazines to Run Print Public Service Ad (PSA) 

• Call the newspapers and magazines and ask for a contact person for public service ads.

• Send a cover letter and a copy of the print public service announcement (see enclosed) to the contact.

• Call the contact, urge the publication to run the ad, and offer to provide a camera-ready electronic version of the ad from the campaign CD. You can e-mail the print ad to the contact, direct them to the ad 
on www.usfa.dhs.gov/smoking or lend them your CD.

The U.S. Fire Administration is a division of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. FEMA coordinates the federal government’s role in preparing for, preventing, mitigating the effects of, responding to, and recovering from all domestic disasters, whether natural or man-made, including acts of terror. 

USFA Publications Information: FA-309 / June 2007