News
Fire Prevention Week at local fire hall
Scott Wagar
10/15/2013
During National Fire Protection Week the Bottineau Fire Department spent time with local children speaking about fire prevention.
The fire department stated that its fire prevention talks to the children are about the importance of fire alarms, a safe place to go if fires take place in their homes and what firemen look like in their fire protection clothes, the equipment they carry when they come into their home so the kids will not be afraid of them.
FIRE ALARMS
During the presentation, the Bottineau firemen showed the kids a smoke alarm and allowed the children to hear what it sounds like when it goes off as a house fills up with smoke from a fire.
They also encouraged the children to remind their parents to check the smoke alarm once a month and that the battery should be changed once a year or when the machine chirps telling the household the battery is low, which should be changed right away.
A SAFE PLACE
The local firemen also spoke on “a safe place” for children to go outside of their homes when there is a fire. The kids were informed that the family should have an escape route with a specific place where they should all meet up once outside the house.
The students were informed that while they are using their escape routes and encounter smoke, they should get out of the house with the family’s alternative escape route. If the kids have no choice but to go through smoke, they should get low and go under the smoke because smoke rises leaving clean air under the smoke.
CLOTHING AND EQUIPMENT
The firemen dressed in their fire prevention clothing, air mask and helmets in front of the kids so that if a fire does break out the children will know what firemen look so that they will not be afraid of them and go to them for assistance.
They explained why they wear the clothing while fighting fires and also showed the children some of the equipment they use to put out fires.
At the end of the presentation, the firemen showed the children the fire trucks, allowed them to go inside the trucks and put the lights on for them so the children had a basic understanding of what a fire truck looks like and how it is utilized.
For more information on fire prevention go to www.nfpa.org/safety-information/fire-prevention-week.