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| Monday, October 09, 2006 | (No comments posted.)
Times Staff Report
CROWN POINT | Children and their families learned to watch what they heat and stand by their pan Sunday at the Volunteer Fire Department's open house.
The fire safety and prevention program has a different theme each year. This year, it was cooking.
"I always tell kids that fire is there for us to use every day," said John Gettler, division chief. "But we need to respect it. As soon as you get careless, your house comes down and you have nowhere to live."
One of the most popular demonstrations was the Exit Drills In The Home trailer drill.
Inside the trailer, firefighters spoke about the importance of exit plans and safety. As the house filled with smoke, an alarm sounded, and children and adults exited the house as instructed.
Tara Sorenson, 12, of Crown Point, described her time inside the trailer.
"Smoke filled and you couldn't see anything," she said. "If it was real, it'd be scary."
The ability to get out of a burning home depends on advance warning from smoke alarms and advance planning, Gettler said. Parents were encouraged to walk through their homes, looking for all possible exits and escape routes, and to include children when creating an exit plan. Family members should be able to identify at least two exits in each room and a place where they will meet, he said.
Elsewhere, children stood in line for the opportunity to put out a "fire," which was a cutout attached to hinges in the parking lot. When their turn came, children used a hose -- with help from firefighters -- to extinguish the fake blaze.
Children also heard that there's a good reason to keep their rooms clean.
Three things are needed to make a fire, Gettler said.
The first is fuel, including clothes, papers and anything left out or on the floor.
The second is air.
The last is an ignition source.
"It's unfortunate that people look at fire prevention as just a week," Gettler said. "It needs to be an ongoing yearlong process."
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