The state-of-the-art learning center, called a safety house trailer, cost $56,000 and will be carted around to schools and community fairs in Alameda County to better teach fire safety, said Piedmont fire Chief John Speakman, who serves as president of the Alameda County Fire Chiefs Association.

Children should know what to do in case of a fire at home or school, Speakman said. This trailer will help teach those skills, using real-world simulations.

"We hope every child in Alameda County will be exposed to the dangers of fire in these fire safety trailers," he said.

The grant was just one slice of money from a $925,000 grant and donation program offered to Bay Area fire departments by the insurance company. Thirty-two individual grants were given to Bay Area fire departments, affecting 90 departments in the Bay Area.

Fireman's Fund Insurance Company publicist Darryl Siry said the contribution was made to help firefighters carry out their mission more effectively and to save the insurance company money in the long run.

"It's a very effective way to earn the community trust, and it's very cost-effective relative to advertising and marketing," he said.

Speakman said a firefighter never for gets when someone loses his or her life in a fire, especially if that person is a child. The Alameda County Fire Chiefs Association members figured they would ask for the mobile unit because every department in the expansive county could benefit from it, he said.

Piedmont fire Lt. Lori Davis, who ordered the custom trailer, said it simulates real events such as kitchen grease fires.

"We can fill it up with (nontoxic) smoke and have kids crawl through to safety," she said.

There are a couple of these mobile learning centers in the Bay Area, but they are a decade old, she said. It will take about 11 months for the trailer to arrive in Alameda County.

The insurance company also awarded the East Bay Regional Park District Fire Department $25,000 to develop what Siry calls a "critical fire weather database and notification system."

This system will measure wind patterns, temperature and humidity in the East Bay hills area. If weather patterns -- like the hot, dry conditions that Diablo winds bring to the Oakland hills -- create a critical fire danger, fire stations around the Bay Area will be automatically notified.

The Richmond Fire Department received $41,000 to buy equipment that will help rescuers pull car accident victims out of the wreckage sooner. The Contra Costa County Fire District received $40,000 for thermal-imaging cameras, and the Moraga-Orinda Fire District received $25,000 for a firefighting water supply tank, to be used in rural areas where there is little access to water mains.

The city of Oakland's CORE program, which trains adults how to respond to emergencies such as fire, earthquakes and other disasters, also received money from the insurance company. They, along with the city of San Francisco Fire Department's Neighborhood Emergency Response Team, were each awarded a $100,000 donation, which was not part of the grant application process.

Oakland's interim fire chief, Daniel Farrell, said he is pleased Oakland residents will benefit from the company's profits.

"In a mind's eye, it's a way for the Fireman's Fund to recycle some of their profits and some of their dollars back into our communities," he said. "We are fortunate and very pleased they have chosen our CORE program to make this donation to."

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