CdA fire inspector’s focus on prevention

For 25 years, Glenn Lauper’s life has been focused on fires.

At the age of 18, he answered the call from the federal government to become a seasonal firefighter in California’s Yosemite National Park. Today, Lauper serves in the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department as a fire investigator.

Firefighting was burned into Lauper’s childhood memories by his Uncle Ed, who was a firefighter. Lauper would go to his uncle’s firehouse in Southern California and hang out. When the fire alarm sounded, he and his father would drive around, looking for a column of smoke and usually find Uncle Ed there.

Years later, having moved to North Idaho, Lauper attended North Idaho College. While studying to become a forest ranger, he was offered a job with the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department.

Being a “starving college student,” this opportunity was too good to pass up. So he became a firefighter and emergency medical technician, serving the city from 1982 to 1990.

But firefighting wasn’t Lauper’s only interest. His father had been an investigator for the phone company, and while attending NIC, Lauper worked part time as a private investigator for insurance companies.

Because of his background, Lauper was asked if he would be interested in becoming a fire investigator for the city Fire Department. He said yes and was sent to school to learn about fire investigation.

However, it wasn’t until 1989, when this area had a serial arsonist, that Lauper became inspired to take fire investigation seriously.

In solving the mystery of the arsonist, he teamed with the police and other Fire Department personnel. They caught their man, and from this experience, a successful team of investigators was born.

The state of Idaho heard about the team. When the need for a state fire investigator came up, Lauper applied and got the job. For the next 14 years, he worked for the deputy state fire marshal, investigating fires and explosions.

Three years ago, Lauper returned to North Idaho, where he rejoined the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department, this time as a fire inspector with a penchant for prevention.

Lauper said there are only two general categories of fires – structural fires and outside fires. While their causes vary widely, most fires are related to cooking or improperly discarded smoking materials, he said.

“Juveniles under the age of 18 and children playing with matches account for around half of all fires,” he said. “These statistics aren’t just for the Northwest but are reflective of statistics nationwide.”

Asked what can be done to reduce these fires, Lauper said: “Basically, my career in fire investigation and inspecting is to figure out the cause of fires. At the end of each year my colleagues and I look for trends. Then we work to target the prevention of these fires. I’ll give you an example,” he continued. “If we know that we have 49 percent of all our calls being chimney fires then we would actively target the prevention of chimney fires by education.

“Recently we had three fire deaths of children. They happened last year. These deaths were not acceptable by any means. They really caught us off-guard. Two of the children were playing with matches and one died as a result of an unattended candle a parent had left burning. So that tells us that we have a couple of different messages to send, not only to kids, but to parents also.”

“We target kids in their schools and we target parents and caregivers to know how to be safe with fire,” he said. “We have intensified our outreach into the community, focusing on children and fire prevention.”

For station tours or questions, call 769-2340 or visit the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department at 320 Foster Ave. Or e-mail Glenn Lauper at glauper@cdaid.org.