BY GARY R. RIETH AND TOM KIURSKI
The crisp autumn air brings thoughts of the fall event many people look forward to all year long-Halloween-which makes this a perfect time for your fire department (and any outside agencies you think may help you spread the word) to plan how to disseminate Halloween safety information to your citizens. To take advantage of Fire Prevention Week in early October, a safety information program needs to be in place by October 1.
Many firefighters may be asking, “What do I have to do with Halloween?” But as responders to Halloween injuries who have knowledge about prevention, the better question is, “Why wouldn’t I share that information with my community?”
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Years ago, many fire departments worked alone or with an outside agency to do scanning of the candy kids collected on Halloween, in response to stories of people putting razor blades in apples given to children. Although this may or may not have actually happened, the fear existed, so long lines of children waited at fire stations to have their candy run through machines to check for foreign objects. Most fire departments have since stopped this service, since nothing dangerous has ever been found. The long lines that kept children up late at night waiting to get their candy scanned turned out to be the bigger problem. When parents realized a careful look through the candy would turn up the same results as scanning, they began to do this task themselves.
 2 Photo 1 by Tom Kiurski; photos 2 and 3 courtesy of Livonia (MI) Fire Department. |
Some fire departments, along with other concerned groups, participated in community-sponsored “trick-or-treating” events that took place in community buildings or malls. The purpose of these events was to make candy available for distribution that hadn’t been tampered with (at least since leaving the factory) prior to reaching the kids’ bags. These events still continue today.
Fire departments also sponsor or cosponsor Halloween parades and parties. In the parades, costumed children march by a judging booth, giving each child a chance to be the one everyone is looking at and cheering for as they walk by. Parties may take place at fire stations with a number of activities in which kids can take part. These events would take the place of or supplement the trick-or-treating in the neighborhoods.
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Pumpkin carving can be a great time of family bonding, and jack-o’-lanterns are a great symbol of the season. Tips for safe carving include using safer, kid-friendly saws instead of the larger knives so many of us used when we were growing up. Some of the intricate designs carved on pumpkins look fantastic. Free designs can be found at www.pumpkinmasters.com and www.spookmaster.com.
Lighting the jack-o’-lanterns can be done more safely with flashlights and neon glow sticks rather than the traditional candles. There are even some lighted discs on the market that flash on and off and in different directions to give a strange lighting feature to your masterpiece. If you decide to use a “carveable pumpkin” made of a foam product that can be kept for years, keep in mind they are flammable and must be used with caution.
 4 Photo by Gary R. Rieth. |
Livonia Fire & Rescue has teamed with the local Halloween USA stores to help distribute safety tips for Halloween. Halloween USA, headquartered in Livonia, Michigan, operates many stores throughout the Midwest during the months of September and October. Livonia took one of its trucks to a Halloween USA store where the truck was decked out for the holiday. Pictures were taken with costumed characters and other fun Halloween props on the truck, which then were used to create trading cards with Halloween safety tips on the back. These cards were distributed to store customers and to fire station visitors during October (photos 1-3).
Livonia Fire & Rescue also writes a Halloween safety article and sends it to our local newspaper. We usually receive ample space for this guest editorial. For 2004, our article included many safety tips and offered readers a list of Halloween safety Web sites to visit. A Halloween safety game that is fun for kids can be found at www.halloweenmagazine.com; click the box on the upper left-hand side of the page. Many pages of Halloween safety tips can be found at www.halloween-safety.com. The pages include tips for kids, adults, parties, costumes, trick-or-treating, home haunters, and pet safety.
Our local cable TV company also came to the station house to tape a public service announcement (PSA) on Halloween safety. They edited the PSAs and added graphics to provide a short piece to be aired during October.
Have you ever heard of a “talking pumpkin”? Would you believe that such an object exists? For more than 30 years, the Maryland Heights Fire District in St. Louis County, Missouri, brings out the talking pumpkin for customers of the district.
It all starts when we head out to a local pumpkin farmer and purchase two very large pumpkins. We clean them out, carve their faces and then put a drop light in from the back to give them life, using a two-way radio system to talk with the kids.
The pumpkin is set up in a barnyard scene and visitors sit on bales of straw to talk with the pumpkin. Instant photos are taken for each child to take home that evening. While the children are having their pictures taken, a firefighter sits out of sight and talks with them about fire safety (photo 4).
We also have a graveyard scene with headstone, each of which has a safety message written on it. Some examples are “Here lies Hector; he didn’t have a working smoke detector” and “Here lies Pete in this hole because he didn’t know how to Stop, Drop and Roll.” A local high school art class painted a 20- by 30-foot canvas backdrop for each scene.
We set up a table with batteries for smoke detectors, fire safety literature, and candy. As the families are leaving, we give the kids candy and a plastic helmet. The parents get safety literature. This event has been well received by our customers.
The number-one injury associated with Halloween is falls caused by tripping. We remind parents and kids to check the length of the costumes and shorten them if necessary; to check the labels on the costumes to ensure the material is flame resistant; and to use reflective tape, found at most hardware stores, to make the costume easier to see.
Distributing Halloween safety pamphlets and handing out glowing wrist bands are only two ideas that can help keep kids safe on Halloween. Start early to think about how you can spread your safety messages in innovative and amusing ways. ■
■ GARY R. RIETH, an engineer and 28-year veteran of the Maryland Heights Fire District in Missouri, has been involved in education for the past 26 years. He is a State Fire Instructor III and associate instructor for Missouri Fire & Rescue Training. He has a bachelor’s degree in fire service management and is an instructor at the Missouri and South Dakota state fire academies.
■ TOM KIURSKI is a lieutenant, a paramedic, and the director of fire safety education for Livonia (MI) Fire & Rescue. His book Creating a Fire-Safe Community: A Guide for Fire Safety Educators (Fire Engineering, 1999) is a guide for bringing the safety message to all segments of the community efficiently and economically.
