Newtown Youth & Family Services’ Safety Town program is teaching local children about safety through interactive lessons and visits from local experts.

NYFS is holding three one-week sessions this summer. The first week ran July 8 to 12, the second week ran July 15 to 19, and the third week will run July 22 to July 26.

According a description of the program, “Safety Town is a one-week interactive safety education program developed to teach kindergartners important life-saving lessons on strangers, traffic, fire, pedestrian, poison, drug, playground, bus, and water safety.”

A fire truck was parked behind NYFS on July 9, when Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue Company firefighters Bruce Clark, Matt Schapiro, and Luke Loudon visited to talk about fire safety.

According to NYFS CSC Program Coordinator Chelsea Preneta, lessons throughout the first week of Safety Town included learning about traffic and bike safety, meeting paramedics and Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps members, and learning about water safety from Newtown Parks & Recreation department employees and Stewie the Duck from the Stew Leonard III Water Safety Foundation.

After talking to the children inside and demonstrating gear, the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue Company firefighters led the Safety Town children outside to learn about the fire truck. All of the children had an opportunity to climb in the truck.