Pumping up fire safety

For her first time through Seymour Fire Station 1, Rachel Cowan was impressed.

“It was really cool to see where the firefighters live,” Cowan, a kindergartner at Margaret R. Brown Elementary School, said after taking a tour of the firehouse Thursday afternoon.

There was only one thing that didn’t settle quite right with her.

“I didn’t see any girl firefighters,” she said. “Girls can be firefighters too.”

To prove her point, Cowan said maybe she’ll be a firefighter one day.

“You have to be strong,” she said. “And I’m pretty strong.”

She demonstrated that strength by lifting weights with firefighter Jason O’Neal in the firehouse’s exercise room.

Although students laughed and had fun learning about the fire station, the tour served a serious purpose.

“You are here to learn about fire safety and prevention,” O’Neal told students while they gathered in the firehouse living room.

Every year, all kindergarten students from Seymour Community Schools and surrounding schools pay a visit to the local fire stations. On Thursday, students from Brown, Seymour-Jackson and St. John’s Lutheran School made stops at fire station headquarters on East Street.

Today, Zion Lutheran School kindergartners will visit.

The tours are held during National Fire Prevention Week.

This year’s theme is “Stay Fire Smart! Don’t Get Burned,” to emphasize ways to keep homes fire safe and prevent painful burns.

“The most common types of burn injuries result from fire or flame burns, scalds and contact burns,” Fire Chief Fred Hines said. “Burns are painful and can result in serious scarring and even death. Most burn injuries are preventable.

“We hope that through our fire education programs we can keep our citizens safe,” he added.

Also this month, the fire department will be visiting area preschools to show students the fire engines and will be bringing its fire safety house to local elementary schools. On Oct. 17, firefighters will present a program at Home Depot at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

To start off Thursday’s tour, O’Neal welcomed students to what he called his house and introduced them to “his family,” including Hines and his fellow firefighters.

“This is where I live when I’m working,” O’Neal said. “We spend 24 hours here at a time and that is why we call it a firehouse. You are going to see a lot of things here that are in your house.”

The next room students visited was the kitchen, which O’Neal said was his favorite.

He told students they need to be extra-careful when in the kitchen because of all the potential fire dangers.

“There are several things in the kitchen that start fires, like the stove, microwave, oven and toaster,” he said.

“When you help your mom or dad in the kitchen, you have to pay attention because you can get hurt.”

Luckily, students knew exactly what to do should a fire break out in their house or any other place.

“Get out and stay out!” the class shouted in unison.

O’Neal also showed students a fire extinguisher, explaining how it’s good to have one in the kitchen but that only adults should use it.

After getting a glimpse of the workout room, students filed into the firefighters’ bedroom, where firefighter Shane Busby was pretending to be asleep to demonstrate what it’s like when the fire station gets a call in the middle of the night.

As soon as the alarm went off, Busby jumped up, put on his boots and gear that were sitting upright next to his bed and rushed out the door.

Just like all houses should, the fire stations have a smoke detector in the bedroom, which O’Neal pointed out to students.

He told students to make sure they have a smoke detector in their homes and to have their parents check it to make sure the batteries are working.

“If you don’t have one or it needs new batteries, you can come here and we will give you one for free,” O’Neal said.

The last stop on the tour was the garage, where students watched Busby put on all his gear and demonstrate how it operates.

O’Neal explained that firefighters can get close to fires because they are trained and protected by the suits and equipment they wear.

“Now he’s going to look and sound different, kind of like you look different on Halloween, but inside he’s still Fireman Shane, so you don’t have to be scared,” O’Neal said. “You should never be afraid to go to a firefighter if there is a fire. He’s there to help you.”

While in the garage, students also saw the firetruck.

Inside Fire Engine 1, students found a special member of the fire department.

“We have three fire departments in Seymour, but this is where Fire Pup lives,” O’Neal said.

Leaning out the window, Fire Pup reviewed with students what they had learned about fire safety.

Kameron Pyatt said the best part of the tour was seeing Fire Pup.

“I found Fire Pup,” he shouted excitedly. “He was asleep in there the whole time. He taught us how to be safe in a fire.”

After receiving a red plastic fire hat donated by Beatty Insurance and a fireman’s badge sticker, Pyatt said he was ready to fight fires.

“I’m all set to be a firefighter when I grow up,” he said.

Donovyn Thomas said if a fire broke out in his home or school, he now would know exactly what to do.

“I would get out and stay out so I wouldn’t get hurt,” he said.

He too would like to be a firefighter.

“If there was a fire now, I would probably be scared but I wouldn’t if I was a firefighter, because I would be brave and know what to do,” he said.

Safety Tips

Tips from the National Fire Protection Association for parents to prevent children and themselves from getting burned:

Keep hot foods and liquids away from tables and counter edges so they cannot be pulled or knocked over.

Have a 3-foot “kid-free” zone around the stove.

Never hold a child in your arms while preparing hot food or drinking a hot beverage.

Be careful when using things that get hot such as curling irons, ovens, irons, lamps and heaters.

Install tamper-resistant receptacles to prevent a child from sticking an object in the outlet.

Never leave a child alone in a room with a lit candle, portable heater, lit fireplace or stove, or where a hot appliance might be in use.

Wear short or close-fitting sleeves when cooking.

Set your hot water temperature no higher than 120 degrees.

Install anti-scald valves on shower heads and faucets.