Turning Children On to Fire Safety
Features
Fire prevention display at shopping mall in Greensboro, N.C.. has many messages.
Fire prevention education is sometimes plagued by the absence of statistics to prove its true value. However, when children get turned on by the prospect of becoming concerned citizens and teaching others about fire prevention, the payoff is immeasurably exciting and rewarding!
This was the kind of reaction we received with the fire prevention display of the Guilford County, N.C., Fire Marshal’s Office at the Four Seasons Mall in Greensboro last March 16-18. As the new fire prevention instructor with the fire marshal’s office, I began the 1978-1979 school year teaching the Sparky fire prevention program to all 69 fifth-grade classes in Guilford County on a monthly basis as had been done in years past.
However, there were a couple of minor changes. One of the course assignments had been to make a scrapbook of newspaper clippings, magazine articles, etc., dealing with fire and fire prevention. Knowing that while some young people are easily motivated to do scrapbooks, others are more artistically inclined, the scrapbook requirement was changed to a project which could be either a scrapbook (at least 10 pages), a poster (describing or picturing in detail some aspect of fire or fire prevention) or some other form of visual aid.
Public display planned
At the same time this change was explained, the students were advised that their projects would be displayed to the public to show off their handiwork and give them recognition for their accomplishments, to select 20 projects for a special honor award, and primarily to provide an opportunity to reach others with fire prevention messages.
In addition to the fifth-grade classes, I began teaching fire prevention to all grades at the Central North Carolina School for the Deaf, using visual aids and sign language. The students there also participated in the fire prevention display at the mall.
Although this was Guilford County’s first such endeavor, we felt that the display was an unqualified success. These students really came through for us and it was evident that they had really learned something about fire prevention while becoming personally involved.
This proved to be a tremendous avenue for reaching the public with fire prevention. We had over 1100 projects on display. One project, in which an entire class participated, was a fire engine made of cardboard boxes. There were 693 posters, 296 scrapbooks and 153 other visual aids.
Many projects were highly detailed and sophisticated while others were more simply made, but all had a definite fire prevention message. Some of the visual aids were houses made of boxes, wood, plastic, etc., showing primary and secondary escape routes, specific fire hazards, or the correct placement of smoke detectors. Others were replicas of fire extinguishers, houses that had burned, forests ravaged by fire, etc.
Messages reflect course
The posters covered virtually all aspects of fire education and prevention that were discussed in the program, and although many had the same theme, it was thrilling to see how each individual expressed the message in his own way. The scrapbooks evidenced much time and effort. Many had individual research reports and poems the students had written in addition to newspaper clippings and magazine articles.
A panel of 13 community leaders judged the children’s projects and picked the 20 top winners, who received special honor award ribbons. The community leaders included the county manager, the chairman of the Hoard of County Commissioners, a School Hoard member and others whose interest was an added incentive to the students. There were 50 honorable mention ribbons and every student who submitted a project received a certificate of appreciation.
Once the plans for the display were under way and the mail’s center stage had been reserved for the students’ projects, we at the fire marshal’s office felt that this opportunity to reach the public with fire prevention should be shared. We approached the fire prevention and public relations committee of the Guilford County Fire Protective Association and invited the county fire departments to participate with their own displays and demonstrations to acquaint the public with the different services that they render their communities. Thirteen of the 23 fire departments participated. Some of the stat ions were unable to have a display because of prior commitments, such as emergency medical technician training classes.
Example of teamwork
We were all pleased with the entire effort especially in that it was a tremendous demonstration of united teamwork among the individual departments, the different divisions of the fire marshal’s office, the airport fire department and the county schools.
The children’s projects were all displayed on center stage, with the county fire departments, airport fire department, and fire marshal’s office displays on the outer perimeter of the center stage and st retch areas of both levels of the mall. The other displays and demonsrations included fire apparatus, special protective clothing, pictures of community affairs involvement, slide presentations by the inspections division and the communications division, smoke detector displays, free blood pressure checks, displays outlining the proper installat ion of solid fuel burners, and many other displays which defined the many services of the county fire service.
We hope to have many more such united efforts to reach the public for fire prevention education and public relations.
