By Freddie Bourne
Messenger-Inquirer
OWENSBORO, Ky. — Owensboro Fire Department’s recently-opened Walter Freeman Fire Training Center saw more than its regular crew inside the facility Monday morning, as the department welcomed second-grade students from the Owensboro Public Schools district to learn and participate in hands-on activities with regard to fire safety.
“Nationally, October is Fire Prevention Month, but we set aside a week to teach the second graders, all through the city, about fire prevention,” said Deputy Fire Marshal Brian Roberts. “... We discuss safety in their house, what to do if a smoke detector goes off, (having) a meeting place, calling 911, when to call 911 — just important things like that, that otherwise they may not get educated on.”
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Upon classes from Cravens Elementary School arriving at the facility, one of the first tasks on Roberts’ agenda was to see if students were familiar with the appearance of a smoke detector and how it functions.
“A big thing for me is: ‘Do you have a smoke detector in your house?’ and ‘Does it work?’ ” Roberts said, who offers students a detector if they do not have one. “... Then the other thing is when that thing goes off, we don’t want to ignore it.
“There’s been a lot of people — nationwide and in our city — that have died because they didn’t know they had a fire in their house,” Roberts continued. “... You wouldn’t believe how many house fires we go to and we don’t see or hear a smoke detector warning.
“... Early detection of a fire is key for survival,” Roberts said.
The students also had the opportunity to engage in more physical exercises, such as learning how to put on firefighter equipment and uniforms and spraying water from a fire hose at the facility’s outdoor, four-story modular burn tower.
“When you’re (working) with second-graders, we know that they want to have fun and see the fire trucks …. We love letting (the students) play with the (equipment) that we have,” Roberts said. “... We (give them) important information and (then we’re) like: ‘Hey, let’s go have a little fun.’ ”
Michelle Simon, one of Cravens’ second-grade teachers in attendance, said her class’s visit to the training facility aligned “perfectly” with what her students are currently learning back in the classroom.
“... It connects the kids to their community, which connects (to) our social studies lessons …,” Simon said. “... The whole unit (we’re learning) is communities, and we started with our family community, then our school community, then we branched out to our neighborhood and now we’re actually in the city.
“This will be a good tie-in for that this afternoon,” Simon said Monday morning.
Roberts and Simon find that educating students at this age about fire safety is an ideal time in their development.
“They’re impressionable at this age and it’s a time where they’re growing older,” Roberts said, “... and I encourage all of them when they get done (here): ‘Hey, pass this on. You just learned something very important today that not a lot of people have heard about ….’
“They do want to show off what they know,” Roberts said.
“I just think the younger they earn these skills, the better off they’ll be,” Simon said. “... This is wonderful that they can do it here … and actually see it.
“I think that kinesthetic aspect of seeing it, getting to touch things, getting to hear things, (asking) questions brings it all together,” Simon said.
Beyond the education aspect, Roberts finds that students visiting in person allows them and the members of the fire department to build a positive and personal rapport with one another.
“... Bringing them out to our training area, to our station, they get to see — other than us in the trucks — … what it looks like for us on a daily basis of interacting with us and see: ‘Hey, we’re normal folks just like everybody else,’ ” Roberts said. “We may wear different uniforms or that kind of thing, but it is important for them to come out and see that.”
For Blake Mathew, one of Simon’s students, being on-site was memorable.
“(I’ve wanted) to be a firefighter … since I was 1,” the 7-year-old said with a smile, relishing in his first time being in a fire facility. “... I want to wear the outfits (uniforms) (because) it has that mask and helmet.”
But besides the attire, Mathew finds the most vital aspects of the job is to “help people out of a fire” and to educate others.
Roberts said the remaining second-grade classes will attend their respective sessions on Tuesday.
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