WFES Has Fire Safety Course

With October being National Fire Prevention Week being this month, the Fannin County Fire Department and EMS have been fairly busy traveling from one elementary school to another educating children on fires and how to handle them appropriately. Each student at West Fannin Elementary School was required to watch a video prior to the arrival of the firefighting team. Students were told that the number one cause of household fires starts in the kitchen. In 2011, cooking was involved in an estimated 156,300 home fires that caused over 450 deaths.

“The number of deaths could be greatly reduced if people paid more attention when they cooked”

said fire personnel.

Aside from kitchen fires, students also learned that getting out of the home safely in the event of a fire was important for the safety of everyone in the home. In the event that smoke is smelled during the night, you are to get out of bed and crawl. Smoke rises and is more likely to be up high…staying low allows you to breathe clean air. If a door is closed, use the back of your hand to feel for heat on the other side of the door. If there is no heat, it is safe to open the door. Once you’re outside, an emphasis was put on the fact that you do not need to reenter the home. Most of those who reenter a burning home do not exit a second time. In the event that your clothing catches fire, you must cover your face with your hands then stop, drop and roll to extinguish the fire.

Smoke detectors are an important role in alerting people that there is a fire somewhere in the home or building. It is important to check the battery in each smoke detector once a month and to completely change the battery twice a year. The recommended time to do this is when you change your clock settings for spring and fall time of year.

After watching the video, students had the opportunity to ask questions and see a firefighter dressed up in his total gear then explore a fire truck.