Powell River Fire Rescue’s fire safety house has been busy, providing elementary school students the skills to safely exit their homes in the event of fire.
The fire safety house is a scaled down version of a real house used to teach fire safety in the home. Grade three classes participate by first learning in a lecture setting about the steps to safely exit their homes in the event of a fire, then practice in the fire safety house with the help of a smoke machine, flashing lights and smoke alarms.
Students are asked to take what they learned home to not only create a fire safety plan with their family, but to practice using their exits and testing their alarms.
“This year we had 175 students go through the program,” said Powell River Fire Rescue coordinator/public educator Tricia Greenwood. “The message was emphasized for a number of the students as their bus had to travel past a working structure fire to get to the fire hall. Seeing a fire in their neighbourhood was definitely an impactful lesson for the kids this year.”
Greenwood said a house fire can be a very scary experience, even for adults.
“Teaching our students what steps to take to get out of the house will hopefully alleviate some of that fear and help us to spread the message about the importance of testing smoke alarms and having a fire safety plan,” she added.
The program is sponsored by Powell River Fire Rescue and instructed by off-duty Powell River Professional Firefighters Association members.
Information on Powell River Fire Rescue is available at facebook.com/PowellRiverFireRescue/.
