While Varnett’s younger students were being entertained at an indoor puppet show, third-through-fifth graders were outside standing in a group.
But they had one thing in common: picking up tips on fire prevention and safety from members of the Houston Fire Department.
In separate sessions, PreK and Kindergarten through 2nd grade students packed into the Southwest Campus cafeteria where puppets talked about how to prevent fires and how to act if a fire occurs in the home or in buildings..
The firefighters told students to Stop, Drop and Roll if their clothes catch fire, crawl low on their hands and knees under the smoke to get out of the house, plan escape routes with their families and, of course, never play with matches. They also urged students to remind their parents to check smoke detectors by changing the battery in the spring and fall when they set their clocks, test the detectors every month and learn how to call 911 in the event of an emergency.
“Parents have been saved because their children called 911,” said Ms. Jackson, the Southwest Campus librarian who organized the firefighters’ visit. She said the puppet show for the younger students was effective because the message “was on their level.”
The older students received the same lesson as they gathered to the side of a fire truck. One firefighter demonstrated how he puts on his firefighting gear and then walked through the crowd shaking hands.
What to do when you hear an alarm? Feel the door with the back of your hand. That’s because it’s more heat sensitive and if it burns, you still retain use of the palm/hand. Use your hands and knees, get out and stay out, the firefighters said.
In 2011, U.S. fire departments responded to 370,000 house fires, which caused 2,520 deaths, nearly 14,000 injuries and $6.9 billion in damage, according to the National Fire Protection Association. That translates into an average of seven home fatalities per day.
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