submitted by Michelle Colvin, Principal, Berlin Central Elementary School
On October 6, members of four fire and rescue departments took their gear and message during Fire Prevention Week to the students of the Berlin Elementary School and the kids really listened.
Ivan Wager, the County Fire Coordinator for all the departments in Rensselaer County, addressed the children on all safety issues, starting with smoke alarms. His manner was grandfatherly and reassuring but very direct. He showed them one without a battery and then how it worked when the battery was in. He asked who here has smoke detectors in their homes. A chorus of “I do” greeted his question and then he said, “Go home and ask your parents if they have smoke detectors, and if they say no, tell your teacher, and we will get you one.”
Wager then asked, “Who has an emergency plan to get out the house in case of a fire and a place outside to meet?” Again many voices answered in the affirmative, so he continued, “Do you practice this plan?” “Yes,” many children answered, but he went on to say, “Go home and ask your parents to practice a fire drill tonight, after dinner because,” he said, “many times fires happen at night. “And if they say no,” Wager continued, to the children’s delight, “tell them you won’t eat your supper and to call me so I can explain why.”
Then the firefighters invited two volunteer children, who became honorary firefighters,
to come forward to “gear up.” The children were quickly dressed in real firefighting clothing including boots and oxygen masks. They then walked around hand in hand with an equally clad firefighter so the children could see how they looked and hear how their equipment sounds.
Fire Coordinator Wager explained, “We may look scary, and we make scary sounds but when we come in your house you must not hide and you must call out so we can find you.”
“Yes” the students shouted, “We will.”
Next a firefighter explained how to exit a house during a fire by crawling along the floor and to feel doors and not open them if they are hot. Another firefighter demonstrated “Stop, drop and roll” if their clothes caught on fire and how to call 911, adding “We will know where you are, but you should all know your address, too, to tell us.”
The firefighters then cautioned children not to play with matches, lighters and candles, saying they should tell their parents to hide them away. They also went over bicycle safety telling them to wear helmets and not ride on the road.
The children were then cautioned about kitchen safety, explaining that stoves and ovens are hot and coffee and tea, too, and that when people are cooking they should not play near them or bother them because “getting burned hurts.”
Next, Wager said, “When you leave a house during a fire, never go back inside.” Then he promised, “If you have a pet inside, we will do everything we can to save them like we do to save you,” adding, “I have oxygen masks made for pets in my car.”
Wager also said we that they no longer ask people to put stickers on windows to show where a child is because people move, but “we do have signs to put on the bedroom doors of children so we can find them.”
Lastly, the County Fire Coordinator asked who has wood burning fireplaces? Once again there were many yeses to which he replied, “Go home and ask your parents when they cleaned the chimney.”
Clearly, the training was very well presented to these young students who will take these lessons home, along with the final message from the Fire Coordinator that Fire Prevention is not just for a week but for every day.
