Fire Safety

On Monday, Firefighter Johnson from the Somerville Fire Department came to our class to talk about fire safety as part of the SAFE program (Student Awareness Fire Education).  He came equipped with many parts of his fire gear, including his helmet, mask, suit and boots.  He passed around all of this gear and let them feel how heavy each part was (it totals more than 70 pounds altogether when worn by the firefighters).  Many of the children wanted to try on the fire hats to see how heavy they were.  Firefigther Johnson emphasized the importance of practicing fire safety at home.  This includes having a fire drill at your house or apartment to help your child know what to do in the event of an emergency.  We have fire drills in school several times each year and it's important to also do so at home.  Part of having a home fire drill is to identify a meeting place for all family members to go to after evacuating the house.  It is also important for the children to remember not to worry about any of their belongings.  If there was smoke, firefighter Johnson taught them stay low to the ground and to STOP, DROP and ROLL if their clothes or body caught fire.  He passed out coloring books and some other goodies for the children to take home with them.  Please take some time to review the pages of this book with your child and practice some of the things listed (i.e. fire drill, stop, drop and roll, testing smoke alarms, etc...)