She had her own home retrofitted with fire sprinklers and used it to educate people in her area about the benefits of this fire safety technology. Jan’s impact eventually extended far beyond Covina and her state as she became a national figure in our industry. Jan’s career path took her to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) where she became involved in their national Learn Not to Burn (LNTB) fire safety education program. She was a skilled educator and a leader in the NFPA Fire and Life Safety Section as well. When the NFPA expanded its public education efforts beyond fire safety and into the prevention of a host of injuries, Jan worked diligently as a regional advocate to make their Risk Watch (RW) program a national success. Risk Watch not only addressed fire safety, but also other injury prevention topics. She later served as the first woman officer on the NFPA Board of Directors, and she represented the NFPA board on the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition (HFSC) Steering Committee. Jan shared her expertise with a host of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) fire prevention and public education teams. She also served on the United States Fire Administration’s Solutions 2000 and Beyond Solutions 2000 national initiatives. Jan Gratton received numerous prestigious awards and was widely recognized within much of the fire service industry as the “First Lady” of fire and life-safety education. I deeply loved and admired Jan…she was a treasure as both a friend and colleague.
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