Jessica Selby

Daily Times

COVENTRY – Washington Oak Elementary School third-graders recently got a lesson for life.

During the assembly, Lt. Kevin Schnell reminded students of such safety techniques as “stop, drop and roll,” and “fall and crawl.” He discussed the idea of having a designated meeting place in case of a fire and where is safe and where isn’t in the event of a fire and tested the student’s knowledge on some of these subjects.  He also asked students about smoke alarms, fire extinguishers, escape plans and common fire hazards. 

Schnell and his team of firefighters from Central Coventry have been doing assemblies similar to this all this week as part of activities the department planned in recognition of Fire Safety and Prevention Week. Members of the Central Coventry Fire Department, like members of other departments in the area, are visiting schools in the community to remind youth of what they need to do to keep themselves safe.

Schnell said these lessons have helped to increase youths’ knowledge of fires and how they react to them.

“Kids today are much more knowledgeable about this stuff than when I was in school,” Schnell said. “And when you talk to the kids and ask them questions, you can tell by their answers that all of this education definitely helps to make the stuff sink in.”

Schnell said kids today are much more aware of the concept of the “safe meeting place” and how a location inside the house, such as in their closets or under their beds is not a proper site.  

He said kids today understand that, if there is a fire and they get out safely, they are not supposed to run back inside to save a pet, a belonging or even another person. He said, at each assembly, firefighters stress to the kids that that is their job and they are trained to do it, so the kids need to leave it to the firefighters.

Kids today are inundated with all of these lessons, Schnell said, and the repetition has helped to better prepare the youngsters about how to respond in emergency situations.

One thing in particular the firefighters do during these assemblies that has helped them be able to do their job even better, Schnell said, is familiarize the youth with what a firefighter looks like in full gear and what the inside of a rescue vehicle looks like.

“We used to have someone get dressed up and then come running into the room in their gear, but the kids would get freaked out, so, now, we have them get dressed right in front of the students, then they demonstrate how it works and then they take it off right in front of them and this seems to make the kids feel better about it,” Schnell said.

Schnell said he also tries to introduce the young students to what the inside of a rescue vehicle looks like. He said he thinks this is important because, if ever the time arises that something happens to them and they need to be transported to the hospital, “they won’t be so scared of it.” 

At the assembly on Thursday, students were allowed to look inside of the rescue vehicle from the rear doors.  They also were able to get close to some of the pieces of equipment and medicines that are carried inside of the rescue vehicle and were told by Schnell how these essential tools work.

Of all the information and hands-on experiences the firefighters offered in the approximately 45-minute fire prevention assembly, third grade student Andrew McDonald said handling the fire hose was his favorite. 

At the end of the assembly, the firefighters drew out water lines from the engine and allowed each of the students to grab on and spray some water onto the school’s back field.  According to Schnell, this part of the assembly typically is the highlight for the kids.

Hazards at home

In addition to the fire safety and prevention education the firefighters offered the students at the school on Thursday, the school nurse, Denise Hennessy, said she also has been working with the kids on the topic in their health classes. In a recent health class assignment, Hennessy asked the students to reveal what some of the fire hazards in their homes were.

Jessica Bellows said the collection of crumbs that constantly gathers in the bottom of her family’s toaster oven is a fire hazard. She said that she is going to try to keep this catch bin clean to protect her family and her home from this fire hazard.

Samantha Gufler said her family’s hazard is the cluster of items and cardboard boxes stored in the basement.  She said many items are still in boxes and she was going to commit to helping her family clean this area to eliminate the fire hazard.

Presenting a plan

In another assignment given by Hennessy, one of the students at the school, Matthew Gola, designed a fire escape plan for his house complete with diagrams and graphics.

Safe at school

According to Diane Hunter, one of the third-grade teachers at Washington Oak who attended the assembly, students in the school also frequently go over the school’s own fire escape plan. She said the school community has at least 15 fire drills a year just to make sure the kids are well versed in how to respond in the event of an emergency evacuation.