Fire Prevention Week

During the week of October 5th, Urbana Middle School 6th graders chose to help the city's fire fighters with their annual fire prevention activities which are provided for children in the community at the local mall. This was the first time the fire department had this extra help which provided extra assurance for when emergencies called firefighters away. The experience was so positive that the fire department has requested that this partnership continue in future years. Below, the students describe their experiences.

On October 5th and 7th, we went to Lincoln Square Mall. What we did was we told our visitors where to go and what to do. When we told the little kids to line up, they lined up in a perfect line.

What we got out of this activity is that it is very difficult to organize something so big in such little time. The adults didn't think we would be able to organize something so big. The adult chaperones for the children would often look at us when we approached like we didn't know what was going on. Later, they noticed that just because we're young adults doesn't mean we can't organize a group of children.

Children in the community learned that fires can be very dangerous and not to play with matches. The adults and kids learned that we, even though we are kids, can organize a large group of people.

We led the children into the Fire Safety House in lines to see who sleeps upstairs or downstairs. As soon as we had them in the appropriate place, the firefighters talked to them about what will happen. Then the smoke started to come out. They climbed out the window. They all had a lot of fun.

The House is two stories and it has a miniature fireplace. Fog was used instead of real smoke. The fog smelled like maple syrup. It also has a control closet that controls what goes on in the house.

We learned you shouldn't hide in case of a fire and that you shouldn't play with matches or lighters. We also learned that if you see smoke one way, go out another way.

The community learned that now many more families will have a safety plan for when there is a fire. They also learned that we can be really helpful in these kinds of situation and that kids really look up to the firefighters and to us.

On Fire Prevention Week, we went to Lincoln Square Mall to help kids learn how to "Stop, Drop, and Roll". First, they covered their eyes. Second, they got on their knees and rolled back and forth. The kids had a lot of fun, but most of all, they learned what to do in a fire.

The things we got out of this activity was that teaching kids what to do in a fire is very, very important. Also, we learned how to talk to keds in a way so they won't be scared.

At Lincoln Square Mall, we worked at the Fire Pole. It is a duplicate but portable pole that is made to teach people how to slide down it. We helped the children up the stairs and deomonstrated how to slide down the right way, which is to hug and wrap your legs around the pole and then slide. They also learned safety because they have to be safe going down the pole the right way. It also gave the children a little taste of being a firefighter! It was fun to help the kids go down the fire pole. We had a great time!