This is a post I wrote last month but wanted to repost it. Earlier in the week, my husband was fighting a fully engulfed house fire, where two people lost their lives. We are from a small community and any loss hurts. Remember the tips. Take the time. Be safe.
Last week was a very important week in schools nationwide.
It was Fire Prevention Week.
Fire Prevention week is especially important in our house, because my husband is a firefighter and he, along with his department, conducted fire prevention at our local elementary school.
We capped off the week with a chili feed at the fire hall. It was a fun and informative week! We had a great turnout by the community in support of our local fire department and the kids learned a lot about fire safety!
I am pleased to announce, that my husband is my guest blogger for today. Please give a friendly hello! to my "hot" firefighter husband who loves to put the wet stuff on the red stuff! He is going to share some tips about keeping cool during an emergency and some about fire safety. I now hand it off to Ross!
Wow. Well than... It's a pleasure to give a few tips on fire safety!
I, along with my department, had the privilege of going to the elementary school to teach kids about fire prevention.
We taught kids from Pre-K to 4th Grade. We made things simple. Here are some of the main points we taught them:
1. Smoke detectors. Where are they in your house? How many do you have? How often do you test them? How do they work?
2. Make sure to find 2 ways out of your house. Try this in every room. Even if you're on the 2nd or 3rd level, how can you get out? If you're upstairs and you can't get out through the door, open your window and wave something. Be SEEN!
3. Meeting Place. If you have a fire in your house, get out and STAY OUT. Find a meeting place where your whole family can go, to find each other. Go home and talk to your family about where you would go if you had a fire.
4. Stop, Drop, and Roll. The younger kids loved this station! We made flames for the kids to put on themselves and we said, "if you had fire here, get it off!" We taught them about what to do if their clothes caught on fire.
5. Smoke. If you had smoke in your house, where does it go? UP! Smoke rises. So, we built a smoke tunnel that simulated how low you have to get. Again, another favorite for the kiddos!
6. Learn your address. Do you know your address has a first and last name? My address's first name is "208". My last name is "Elmhurst Ave". How do you teach 1st or 2nd graders this? Make it simple. Go home and have your parents teach you what your address's first and last name is!
We wanted the kids to think about these things and go home and talk with their parents. We always get stories from parents that say, "thank you for sending my child home with lots of questions!"
This is one of the funnest weeks for my fire department. We get on the level with the kids and have some fun!
We ended the week with inviting families to the fire hall for a chili feed and had numerous activities for them. They sprayed water out of the hose, made fire trucks, took home coloring books and fire hats, and played in the smoke tunnel! Great time!
So, my tips for you. If you're a parent, if you're a grandparent, and those rugrats come over from time to time, make sure your smoke detectors are working and in every room, make sure you always can find 2 ways out of each room in your house, and find a good meeting place if you ever have a fire in the home.
Thank you, Marianne, for the opportunity to give your readers some tips on fire safety!
Thank you to Ross! Be safe everyone and don't forget to practice these tips!
Marianne
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