ILLINOIS, January 17 - Springfield, Ill- The Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal (OSFM) today announced Governor JB Pritzker has proclaimed the week of Monday, January 17, 2022 through Sunday, January 23rd, 2022 Community Risk Reduction Week in Illinois. Community Risk Reduction (CRR) is a data-driven process to identify and prioritize local risks, followed by the integrated and strategic investment of resources (emergency response and prevention) to reduce their occurrence and impact.

The goal of CRR Week is to raise awareness among the fire service that implementing CRR concepts will make communities and department safer. The idea of CRR week originated with individuals from various fire departments across the country. The focus of the week will be on the five "E's" of CRR: Education, Engineering, Enforcement, Economic Incentive and Emergency Response. Any fire department or community, big or small, rural or metro, paid or volunteer can use CRR concepts to identify risks in their communities and start to plan how to reduce those risks. Monday, January 17, 2022 is Martin Luther King Day and is nationally recognized as a National Day of Service and an opportunity for communities to reduce the risk in their community through a series of educational and other programs.

The CRR process began in the state of Illinois in late 2019, due to the pandemic, the official establishment of the State of Illinois Community Risk Reduction Taskforce was delayed until early 2021. The mission of the taskforce is to promote the importance of risk reduction in Illinois by inspiring community ownership and providing coordinated resources. Currently, the taskforce is conducting a statewide risk assessment that will identify specific risks and help provide a more targeted approach to the mitigation of those risks across the state. To learn more about the taskforce and find CRR resources visit illinoiscrr.com or follow them on facebook at @IllinoisCRR. 

"The establishment of the State of Illinois Community Risk Reduction Taskforce is a step toward a safer Illinois and a way to help reduce the stress on the Illinois Fire Service through the identification of risks and finding ways to do targeted mitigation," said Illinois State Fire Marshal Matt Perez. "We hosted the first ever State of Illinois CRR conference in Springfield helping to provide information about the process and how local communities can get involved. I am proud that Illinois is a leader in the CRR community."

According to crrweek.org, every 24 seconds, a fire department in the United States responds to a fire somewhere in the nation. In 2020, 74% of all fire deaths occurred in the home and home fires were responsible for 15,200 civilian injures, causing an estimated $21.9 billion in property damage. In 2020, EMS responses were the top reason for a fire department to be called out in Illinois, and nationally the fire service responds to a growing number of medical calls for service, surpassing 80% of total call volume in some jurisdictions.

For more information on CRR Week, please visit the CRR Week website. 

Governor JB Pritzker's Proclamation is attached.