Students get hands-on fire safety lesson
Brandon Sellers, 8, is helped out of a simulated fire during a fire safety house demonstration at Jefferson-Morgan Elementary School Friday.
Alison Ostrich, 7, of Jefferson, crawls through the living room in a fire safety house at Jefferson-Morgan Elementary School Friday. Students were taught to stay low if they encounter smoke.
JEFFERSON – The smoke alarm suddenly goes off. You are disoriented and smoke begins to fill the room. You went through countless fire drills while in school. You participated in fire safety month. But will those lessons be remembered when a fire actually happens?
Students in the Jefferson-Morgan Elementary School had an opportunity to find out in a simulated experience Friday.
A mobile fire safety house for children was brought to the school through the cooperation with two local fire departments. The house is the property of the Waynesburg-Franklin Township Volunteer Fire Department, who loaned it to the Jefferson Volunteer Fire Department. It was purchased a year ago by the Waynesburg department through a grant from the Greene County Memorial Hospital Foundation.
“We asked them if they knew the number to call in an emergency. We talked to them about not playing with fire or matches and if they knew what to do if their clothes would catch fire,” said Breanna Smitley, a junior volunteer firefighter from the Jefferson company. “We taught them that smoke and heat rise and to stay low. We showed them that they should touch a door for heat to see if there is fire on the other side.”
Smitley said the children were also taught to locate at least two ways out of a building so they are prepared if something should happen.
Smitley, a senior at Jefferson-Morgan Junior-Senior High School, is enrolled in the Emergency Protective Services program at the Greene County Career and Technology Center.
Waynesburg Volunteer Firefighter Richard Policz was on hand to assist with the drills inside the safety house. As each group of students entered, Policz and volunteers from the Jefferson company went over what to do. Students crawled through the miniature home’s living room, hallway, kitchen and upstairs bedroom to safety.
Policz said they talked to the children about kitchen safety, like leaving a rag too close to an open flame. The safety house is operated from a control room where Policz was able to simulate the heat that would be present if there is fire behind a door and push the fake smoke into the rooms. It is made by using a combination of mineral oil and water, Policz said.
“I was nervous. I thought I had to go into a real fire,” said second-grade student Allison Ostrich, 7, after exiting the simulation.
Classmate, Tessa Eggleston, 7, said she learned that you need to watch a fire so it doesn’t get too close, such as a bonfire.
“I think it was a great experience that this year, in addition to the children being able to see a firefighter’s gear and equipment, they had this opportunity to go through a fire safety house,” said teacher Heather Wise whose husband, Brian, is captain of the Jefferson Volunteer Fire Department. “The things my students said after they went through it showed what an impact it had. There was one who said it was really scary and another who said, ‘I didn’t know how dark it gets.’ I think this experience will really stick with them and they will be better equipped to handle themselves if they ever need to in a real fire.”