Fire Safety Week teaches kids about protecting their families

The students in the Washington School District will stop, drop and roll this week as they learn all about fire prevention during National Fire Prevention Week. Doug Sanders has been a Washington Firefighter since 2004 and has been the chairman of the fire prevention committee for the past two years. Sanders said the firefighters will visit the elementary schools this week ? tomorrow at Lincoln in the morning and then St. James in the afternoon, followed by Stewart on Wednesday.

?There will probably be 20 guys taking vacation time Tuesday and Wednesday to teach fire prevention at the school,? Sanders said. ?And it?s well worth it.?

The elementary students in the district have been drawing posters for fire prevention night, which they will put on display today. The kids were asked to draw a picture that epitomized this year?s fire prevention slogan, which is ?Protect your family from fire.? The firefighters will judge the posters tonight. The winners will go to Des Moines to have their posters judged alongside other state finalists.

When the firefighters present at the schools, they will show the students their ?burn trailer,? which simulates a house on fire through the use of theater smoke. The purpose of the trailer is to show kids how smoke moves through a house, and how to avoid the smoke if their own house catches on fire.  

Sanders said the firefighters have a little dollhouse that they use to illustrate the same point. He said the dollhouse is especially popular with the young kids.

?We blow smoke in there and show them how smoke rises in a house,? he said. ?We tell them that the way to stay out of the smoke and the heat is to do an army crawl.?

Sanders said the firefighters will teach the kids the classic ?stop, drop and roll? maneuver. The firefighters will also teach the students how to handle a fire in a pan.

?We simulate a grease fire in a pan,? Sanders said. ?We show them how to put the lid over the grease fire to put it out.?

The firefighters will put on their full gear for the presentation, including their self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA).

?It sounds different when we talk to them with our masks on,? Sanders said. ?Kids call it our ?Darth Vader? voice.?

Sanders said that the schools will experience a fire alarm, at which time they will come outside to see the fire trucks. He said the element the firefighters are trying to stress this year is what to do after exiting a building on fire. The firefighters have a series of lessons known as Exit Drills In The Home (EDITH).  

?The kids and their family need a place to meet outside during a fire,? Sanders said. ?Kids often choose a tree, mailbox, pole or a neighbor?s house. This is what we really preach.?

The kids who have set a meeting place with their family are instructed to turn their porch light on Wednesday night. The firefighters drive around town and count how many porch lights are on.