This case presents a digital fire safety education format created by Feuerwehr Paderborn to reach children when in-person fire station and kindergarten/school visits were disrupted. The format uses hand-puppet storytelling (notably the character “Rudi Ratte”) in short video episodes to teach children about the fire brigade, fire prevention, and safe behaviour in a fire incident.
Map
Rudi Ratte - a Puppet for Fire Safety
General Information
ISIG
The programme is delivered as a video series published on YouTube, designed for children (especially pre-school age) and their caregivers/educators. Episodes typically run around 10–20 minutes and cover practical topics such as what fire engines look like inside, protective equipment, safe behaviour in a fire, and how emergency response works (including content connected to emergency calling/dispatch).
During the COVID-19 period, the fire brigade could no longer run its usual in-person fire safety education visits for kindergartens and schools. As an alternative, the project team chose the internet as the most viable channel and partnered with puppet practitioners to make the content age-appropriate and engaging. A city-level survey of kindergartens indicated that children especially missed the experience of visiting the fire station and seeing vehicles and protective equipment, which shaped the content focus of the early episodes.
Hazard Type
Geographical Scope - Nuts
Population Size
Population Density
Needs Addressed
Early-years fire safety education normally relies on in-person visits (children visiting the fire station or firefighters visiting kindergartens). During the COVID period this became impossible, as kindergarten visits and on-site activities were paused, creating an immediate gap in prevention education for children. The project addressed that gap by selecting the internet as the best medium and developed child-friendly, digital fire safety education through short video episodes featuring puppet characters that explain the fire brigade’s work, safe behaviour in a fire, and how emergency response works.
A local survey of municipal kindergartens also indicated that children most missed the experience of visiting the fire station, seeing the key vehicles, and learning about protective equipment, therefore episodes were shaped around “bringing the fire station to them” digitally.
The case targets children, especially pre-school age.
The case is led by a municipal fire brigade and implemented through a collaboration with puppet/education practitioners.
This is a prevention / preparedness education intervention.
Requires only basic digital access (screen + internet) to use the videos; no specialist infrastructure.
To keep fire safety education continuous and age-appropriate for young children when in-person sessions are disrupted, and to strengthen safe behaviour and confidence by explaining fire brigade work, protective equipment, and what to do in a fire in an engaging format.
A short-episode video series distributed online, using puppet characters and scripted scenarios to explain fire safety and emergency response; promoted through public channels and designed for use by kindergartens and caregivers as part of early-years education.
Decision-making sits with Feuerwehr Paderborn and its project team (topics, scripts, production), with creative input from puppet and education partners. Kindergartens/educators and families influence the content indirectly through feedback and questions.
The case builds capacity by creating reusable, freely accessible learning content that educators can integrate into routine early-years safety education. It is designed to remain usable after the pandemic and can be re-used in multiple settings. Automatic subtitles also broaden accessibility, extending inclusion and reach.
Vulnerable Groups
Governance
Emergency Preparedness
Infrastructure Readiness
Engagement Level
Empowerment Level
Implementation
- Child-friendly risk education: fire safety is taught through puppet storytelling, which keeps attention high and makes abstract safety rules memorable for young children.
- Digital-first delivery: content is published as a YouTube video series/playlist, enabling easy access at home or in kindergarten/school settings.
- Reusable micro-learning: episodes can be used repeatedly (e.g., as a short classroom activity, home activity, or refresher) without needing firefighters onsite.
- Accessible design: the series is described as usable even beyond local and national boundaries, and automatic subtitles broaden accessibility for some learners.
German
Primary implementer: Feuerwehr Paderborn (Paderborn Fire Brigade).
Supporting implementers/partners: Paderborner Puppenspiele (puppet theatre/puppet practitioners) and local kindergarten/school stakeholders who use the materials in practice.
Paderborn Fire Brigade has high practical experience in disaster risk management and emergency response, as a professional emergency service responsible for fire suppression, rescue, and community fire prevention/education in its jurisdiction. In this case, that operational experience is translated into risk communication for children, with content validated and delivered by the fire service and adapted to early-years learning through collaboration with puppet/education practitioners.
- Fire brigade project team (content planning, safety messaging, operational accuracy)
- Puppet practitioners / theatre partner (creative design, performance, child-appropriate framing)
- Kindergarten/school staff (use and integration into learning routines)
- Parents/caregivers (home use)
- Platform host (YouTube as distribution channel)
- Identify the audience need and learning gaps (loss of in-person fire education; what children miss/need to see).
- Co-develop scripts and episode topics that translate core safety messages into child-appropriate scenarios.
- Produce short video episodes (puppet scenes + fire service explanations/visuals).
- Publish episodes in a structured playlist on YouTube for free access.
- Encourage use by kindergartens/educators and caregivers; collect questions/feedback informally to guide future episodes.
- Continue producing new episodes when new needs emerge or when updates are required.
- People/time: fire brigade staff time for content planning/validation; puppet practitioners for production and performance; basic coordination.
- Production capacity: basic filming/editing setup (can be low-cost, but requires consistent capability).
- Digital infrastructure: internet access and a device for viewing; a distribution platform (YouTube).
- No specialist response infrastructure is required for users.
- Initiation (COVID disruption): shift from on-site education to remote format.
- Production & release: creation of multiple episodes and publication as a playlist.
- Continuation/sustainment: ongoing publication of additional short videos beyond the initial disruption period (as described in sector write-ups).
Experience of the Implementing Organisation in DRM
Target Audience
Resources Required
Timeframe & Phases
Participation Results
- Digital risk education can maintain continuity when in-person outreach is disrupted, especially for early-years audiences.
- Child engagement improves when emergency services partner with educators/creative practitioners who can translate technical safety content into age-appropriate storytelling.
- Low-barrier distribution increases participation, but it makes outcome measurement harder (no public evaluation results were found beyond reach/uptake described in public write-ups).
Challenge: Loss of in-person fire safety visits (core experiential learning for children).
Adaptation: A digital alternative that “brings the fire station” to children through episodes focusing on vehicles, equipment, and safe behaviour, shaped by feedback (e.g., what children missed most).
Challenge: Keeping safety messages age-appropriate and engaging.
Adaptation: Puppet-based pedagogy plus short episodic structure and familiar characters to communicate key messages in a child-friendly way.
The initiative achieved participation primarily through open public access: the content is published as a YouTube series so it can be used by kindergartens, educators, and families without formal enrollment. Public write-ups report strong reach for the early set of clips and continued interest, suggesting the approach successfully maintained child-focused fire safety education during the period when in-person sessions were limited.
This is a hazard-specific prevention/preparedness intervention targeting fire safety. The mitigation mechanism is education: building children’s understanding of safe behaviour around fire and what happens in an emergency, reducing panic and unsafe actions.
Risk & Mitigation Plan
Scalability and Sustainability
This case uses a low-infrastructure sustainability model: once produced, the video episodes remain publicly accessible online and can be reused by kindergartens, educators, and families with minimal additional cost. Sustainability therefore depends less on technology procurement and more on institutional ownership and capacity, i.e., whether the fire brigade (and its creative partners) continue to allocate staff time for occasional new episodes, updates, and channel maintenance. The model is strengthened by the fact that the content is designed for repeat use and can remain relevant beyond the original disruption that triggered its creation, but public sources do not specify a dedicated long-term budget or formal maintenance plan.
The case is highly scalable because the main outputs are short videos distributed online. Once produced, the content can be used repeatedly by many educators and families with minimal marginal cost, and can reach beyond the local jurisdiction.
The approach is adaptable across settings because it relies on a repeatable format (episodes + characters) that can be tailored to different age groups, school contexts, and local emergency numbers/procedures. It is also adaptable cross-border if subtitles/dubbing are added and content is localized to local emergency guidance.
Innovation is primarily methodological + delivery-channel: puppet pedagogy combined with digital distribution (YouTube playlist), enabling engaging safety education at scale.
No direct costs overview was found in the reviewed material (e.g., production equipment, contracted creative services, staff time).
No operational costs overview was found in the reviewed material (ongoing production, channel management, updates).
- Reusable digital assets are a long-term sustainability lever: once created, episodes can be replayed year after year in education settings.
- Sustainability hinges on ownership for upkeep: a simple YouTube-based model reduces infrastructure needs, but continued relevance depends on who maintains updates and responds to changing guidance.
- Partnerships reduce burden: collaboration with creative/education partners can make production feasible without overloading emergency service staff time.