It’s all too easy for kitchen fires to start with so many distractions in our busy, fast-paced lives. Stay focused on your cooking to prevent kitchen fires. Stay with the Stove.
That’s the message in the first installment of a video series which made its theatrical debut Dec. 1 from Travis County Emergency Services District 2 (ESD2 / Pflugerville Fire Dept.) and Pflugerville High School film students. The 30-second theatrical cut of the cooking safety video was featured before the movie previews for all shows in December 2017 at Stone Hill Cinemark Theater. An extended “Director’s Cut” is now available here on ESD2’s YouTube Channel.
Over the next year, ESD2 plans to produce a total of six Public Service Announcements (PSAs) in collaboration with high school students. The #StayWithTheStove PSA is focused on unattended cooking, since most home fires start in the kitchen and the holiday season sees the most kitchen fires. While the other PSA topics have not been finalized, topics being considered include water safety, smoke alarms, carbon monoxide poisoning, and yielding to emergency vehicles.
ESD2 reached out to the film teachers at Pflugerville ISD high schools in its jurisdiction about a possible PSA partnership. The teachers jumped at the chance for their students to help make films that would save lives and be seen by the masses. The next production will be with Hendrickson High School, followed by Weiss High School.
According to Cinemark’s movie preview agency, more than 32,000 community members were estimated to have seen the cooking safety PSA in December 2017 at Stone Hill Theater—boosted in part by crowds for new movies such as “Wonder,” “Coco,” and “The Last Jedi.” Over the course of the 6-part PSA series this year, more than 185,000 people will have seen at least one of the safety videos in theaters. That’s in addition to online views through ESD2 and PfISD social media, websites, and emails.
The following are the cast and crew of the “Stay with the Stove” PSA:
Cast: Lt. Tim Wallace and family: Kristen, Walker, and Cannon
Lt. Brian Lucas and family: Ava, Shawn, and Heather; dogs Jax and Molly
Producers: David Robb (Pflugerville High School Audio/Video Production and Journalism Teacher)
and Allison Strupeck (ESD2 Community Outreach Coordinator)
Directors: Samantha Pennell and Emily Marshall (students) and Allison Strupeck
Student Cinematographer: Santiago Dent
Student Editors: An Nguyen, Santiago Dent, Samantha Pennell, and Emily Marshall
Additional Student Crew Members: David Hudson (camera operator), Ian McClure (boom operator), Ian Barnhill (sound recordist), and James Cooley and Josh Mosely (grips)
Additional Support by: Capt. Jim Sides (ESD2 Community Risk Reduction Division Captain)
Active Fire Incidents
