Burdett School students receive fire education

The County of Forty Mile Fire Department hosted Burdett School’s Kindergarten to Grade 3 students for a fire hall tour as a part of the annual Fire Prevention Week on Oct. 11.
Students learned the importance of changing smoke detectors , dressed up in their own bunker gear, got an education lesson on oxygen masks and saw county fire chief Dustin McGarry press the water hose release button in the fire truck which sprayed water right across the hamlet’s main street.
“The main message we get out is ensuring they do have smoke alarms and they are working and talking to their parents about that,” said McGarry.
“Also ensuring they do know their address, whether they live in town or on a farm so they can get emergency services if they need to. The last thing we work on is knowing two ways out of every room and how to protect yourself if you can’t exit a room.”
He said that as the firefighters talk to the students about fire prevention, they’re learning every bit as much as them and their is that one question that makes the firemen think.
With it being Fire Prevention Week, education at all ages has the same level of importance.
Every age requires a different type of education, which means as soon as they can walk, they need to learn stop, drop and roll and as they get older it’s about learning their addresses as well as learning the fire extinguisher, he said.
Corinne Graumans took her Grade 3 students to the fire hall and said the fire prevention is important for the school because many students have siblings in the same building and need to know what their address is, what their phone numbers are and where a phone is in their homes.
“They could be in a position where they need to save somebody in their family and call 911,” she said.
“It’s important for them to understand what to do and if they’re left with older siblings, being babysat.”
“For the next month or so, it’ll be fresh in their mind and that’s why we keep addressing it every couple of months so that it’s fresh for them,” she said.

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