Fire Safety Centers

"Why? Because I never want to see a child lose his or her life because they did not receive adequate fire safety training/education."

"I feel fire safety is a lesson that must be reinforced and practiced in order to become a habit that will be incorporated into daily behavior. Thousands of lives are needlessly lost each year. Most of these deaths could have been prevented through a motivated fire education program." Kevin Harcourt

I began my firefighting career in 1982, becoming a Fire Captain in 1986. I have held the positions of Training Officer and Public Education Officer. I love to teach fire safety. In these positions, I was always searching for ways to improve our program. I came up with an idea which I wish to share with other fire departments and public education services.

I felt the program we had was adequate but not complete. We would give presentations in school auditoriums to hundreds of kids. They got to see what firemen looked like in protective clothing, and how Sparky, our fire dog, could do "Stop, Drop and Roll".

Although they enjoyed seeing that, I always felt that there must be a better way to teach Fire & Life Safety. A program that impacts them in such a way that the life saving knowledge they learn stays with them for a lifetime.

We formed a committee within our Firefighter's Association and came up with the idea of a mobile classroom. Shortly thereafter, we started designing the first Fire & Life Safety Center, completing it several years later.

Our program was designed to fascilitate one class at a time of about 30 children. They would enter our Fire & Life Safety Center, which was located on the school grounds. They came into a fun, music filled environmnet which created a festive atmosphere for learning.

We structured the program. First they sat on the floor in the interactive theater area to watch a short age-appropriate video which really holds their interest, making the instructor's job much easier. This lasted approximately 20 minutes.

"Fun! It had a lot of information on fire safety. Much better for students than just listening to someone talk." - 2nd grade teacher

We then reviewed what was covered on the video presentation. We discussed "911", Stop-Drop-Roll, playing with matches, stay low in smoke, respect fire, and never open a hot door.

Then we discussed the importance of having smoke alarms in every home and testing them on a regular basis. With the older kids, we discussed the importance of residential sprinkler systems.

We then take groups of students and placed them into the interactive bedroom simulator. The room is nicely decorated like a child's bedroom and music plays in the background. The music is used to calm the children because at this point, they may be somewhat fearful as a result of the video viewed earlier. As they waited with anticipation, we described a sleep-over scenario at a friend's house where they all fall asleep while listening to music.

Without warning, a smoke alarm goes off, they awake to a smoke filled room. They stay low and crawl, following the wall to the door where they discovered the door is "hot". They know not to open a warm or hot door so their only exit is the window. They exit through the window with assistance from a firefighter waiting on the other side. They then gathered at their designated meeting place.

With the flip of a switch, we evacuated the smoke from the room. The next group entered and we repeated the process. The teacher was the last to go through. The kids loved it and it confirmed for the teacher the need for teaching fire & life safety to his or her students.

If a student stood up in the smoke during the drill, we declared them "dead" and they had to stand in a make believe graveyard. This might seem cruel but fire has no mercy. We hope they learn from this instead of the real thing.

"My son loved it! It may have made a few children nervous, but it could prove to be a valuable learning experience. I liked how they each got to have that experience." - Kindergarten teacher.

On Fridays, we had a bilingual firefighter conduct classes in Spanish. We had handouts in both English and Spanish. In 160 hours, we trained 2,700 kids in four weeks. Each class lasted approx. 40 min. We were able to complete six presentations per day.

We typically used two personnel to conduct the training but more were often on hand to help out. Once people found out how much fun it was, everyone wanted to be involved. Providing this type of training to children is a fun, easy, fulfilling and rewarding experience.

Having a Fire & Life Safety Center on school grounds provided a way for kids to interact with us and discover that firefighters are "real people" too. We played football, jump rope, 2-square, tetherball and soccer with them at recess. We sat in the middle of the cafeteria and ate our lunches with them.

Over the years, we have continuously improved our Fire & Life Safety Centers, our education and training programs, and our service level to our customers.

We have developed a model program. My dedication and commitment to saving lives extends beyond my community and into yours. I am devoted to saving lives whether it 's in my community or yours. It is my goal to provide this complete program to you and your community and provide you with the knowledge and expertise to motivate you and your team of firefighters to a level of commitment and success in teaching Fire & Life Safety just as we have.