By Jim Read
The Post-Standard (Syracuse, New York)
Copyright 2006 Post-Standard
All Rights Reserved.
Members of the Manlius Fire Department will have a new instructional tool when they hit the day care centers and classrooms this fall.
Sparky’s Hazard House is a simulator that demonstrates residential fire and safety hazards. With a push of a remote control, instructors can show a sparking electrical outlet or the dangers of having a radio too close to a bathtub full of water. With another push of the remote, smoke rises from the basement to the second floor.
“It’s fairly easy to use,” said Chris Halliday , a firefighter and paramedic who serves as the department’s coordinator of public education.
For each hazard illustrated, the next scene shows a safe solution. In the bedroom, for example, instructors can show a boy checking to see if a door is hot. When it is, the scene shifts to show him crawling to the window and using a rescue ladder.
“It’s fairly easy to use,” Halliday said. “Now we have to develop lesson plans.”
The department will create lessons for all age groups. It provides safety education at day care centers in its district, Enders Road Elementary School and the Manlius Senior Center.
The Hazard House has additional panels that illustrate neighborhood dangers such as playing too close to lawnmowers, skateboarding without a helmet and crossing streets while wearing headphones that could mask oncoming traffic.
Other topics can be covered with videos displayed on the flat-panel television screen that is part of the system. The Manlius Fire Department also has a spot on the Hazard House Web site: .
The simulator, which is portable, is usually set up on a tabletop. The department won a $24,685 federal grant to pay for the house, the companion audiovisual system and educational materials.
Halliday said the department expects to be ready with the new lesson plans by the time school starts.
Safety-seat inspection
The Fayetteville Fire Department will have its monthly child-safety-seat inspection station from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Aug. 19 at the fire department, 425 E. Genesee St.
Firefighter/paramedic Jeffrey Jones will inspect child-safety seats free of charge to anyone who stops by the station during those hours. Visitors do not need to be residents of Fayetteville or the Fayetteville Fire District, Jones said.
The department has offered inspection stations monthly since May, Jones said, and plans to continue. The program has averaged eight to 12 inspections per month. Jones said he also has done inspections during his normal work shifts, averaging two per week.
“There’s a huge demand for this out there,” he said. “The goal of the program is to make sure children are safe.”
National statistics show that about 85 percent of child safety seats are incorrectly installed. Jones said his statistics pretty much match the national average.
The problems range from loose straps holding the seats in place, to improper placement in the car to no seats at all. Jones said the department has seats available for those without means to buy one.
For information about Fayetteville’s program, call the Fayetteville Fire Department at 637-6101.