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Firefighters give safety lessons to preschool students |
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Thursday, 18 October 2007 |
 JOLLY TIME Preschoolers at Benton's First United Methodist Church listen intently as Benton firefighter Marty Stauber, standing, talks to them. Stauber is explaining that firefighter Justin Gregory wears the suit, which is called a turnout, to protect him from fire. Firefighters visited 16 preschools in the city to teach children about fire safety during National Fire Prevention Week (Oct. 7-13).
“We do a preschool program because we feel it is important that the children become aware of the dangers of fire and teach them fire safety skills,” Fire Marshall Bruce Armstrong said.
“Our goal is to make sure the children understand the message and we try to make friends with them and develop trust, so they won’t be scared of us.”
Armstrong said children might be afraid of firefighters for several reasons. For one thing, children are taught not to talk to strangers, but Armstrong said firefighters don’t want to present themselves as strangers.
Most importantly, he said, firemen won’t the children to know that underneath the turnout (uniform), which can often look scary to a child is a real person.
“In our program we bring in a firefighter and have him slowly dress in the gear,” Armstrong said. “We explain that the equipment is necessary to protect the firefighter from the fire and we tell them that it is still him underneath the clothing.”
When the firefighters go to the preschool, they drive up in their fire truck, but without using the sirens or lights and they hand out gifts such as hats, stickers and pages to paint on. The children then watch a fun, informative 10-minute DVD called “Sparky’s ABC’s of Fire Safety” before a firefighter comes in and slowly shows how to put on a complete turnout. While the firefighter is putting on the turnout, they children are told how the man or woman inside the suit never changes and is their to protect them from a fire.
The children are then asked questions and taught about important fire safety information such as not playing with matches or lighters; stop,drop and roll; what is a smoke detector; never hide from fire; get out and stay out; and if you see smoke, stay low and go.
“The feedback from the children has been real positive,” Armstrong said. “We ask them review questions at different times of the program and they seem to know most before they are taught and they know more after we teach them fire safety skills.”
Preschools visited include First Baptist Church, Ms. Margaret’s Daycare, Children’s Corner, The Learning Center on Military Road, Gram’s House, The Learning Center on Alcoa Road, Civitan Center, Nonee’s World, Centerpoint Church, Our Lady of Fatima, The Learning Center on Sharon Road, First Baptist Church “Mother’s Day Out,” A Kid’s Place, Jolly Time at First United Methodist Church, Benton Head Start and Pediatric Specialty Care.
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