Hawley Students Learn

About Fire Prevention

By Eliza Hallabeck

Hawley Elementary School students were visited by members of Newtown Hook & Ladder Company No. 1 on Friday, October 14, in recognition of National Fire Prevention Week, celebrated October 9 through 15 this year.

Students ventured outside to hear Ross Janutolo and Ray Corbo discuss the aspects different and equipment on the company’s ladder truck, stationed in the school’s parking lot for the day.

“See that ladder right there?” Mr Corbo asked a first grade class. “That ladder goes 100 foot in the air.”

The ladder truck, Mr Corbo said, is used to store equipment, and another truck, a fire engine, parked behind it, “is used to put the fire out,” Mr Corbo explained to the students, by using the 1,000 gallons of water stored within it.

Another piece of equipment, a fan, is used to draw smoke out of buildings, Mr Corbo said during the demonstration.

Inside the school students assembled in the multipurpose room to hear more fire prevention tips and practice crawling through smoke to safety with the use of a temporary smoke room created on the room’s stage.

Newtown Hook & Ladder’s Joe Miller told students it is important to have a designated meeting place in the event of a fire. Mr Miller also told students it is a good idea to remind their parents to check the batteries in smoke detectors when the clocks are changed for Daylight Savings.

Before students entered the “smoke room,” Mr Miller reminded them it is safer to crawl through a smoke-filled room, because smoke gathers at the top of a room. He also said if the students should need to crawl through a smoke-filled environment it is important to protect one’s face.

Another tip Mr Miller told the students is if a fire happens at their home and the students are in a room of the house, it is important to hang a bed sheet or towel out the window so rescuers know which room to search first.

“If you are in a fire, you never want to hide from a fireman,” said Mr Miller.

During the day students learned about many aspects of fire safety and firefighting.