Elementary school students learn about fire safety

OAK HILL, WV (WOAY) – Kindergarten and first-grade students at New River Primary got a day of learning outside the classroom and inside a firetruck for Fire Safety Week.

The Oak Hill Fire Department made a visit to the school to show the kids how a firetruck works, what a firefighter does, and demonstrate just what they need to do in case of a fire at home.

“Inside they have a classroom where they’re actually teaching them fire safety, teaching them how to get out of a house, Stop, Drop, and Roll, the basics. Out here we’re mainly just showing them our truck and the equipment we carry,” says Robert Begley, Assistant Fire Chief of the Oak Hill Fire Department.

One of the most important fire safety basics for kids to know beyond Stop, Drop, and Roll is how to call 9-1-1, along with knowing their home address when they call to report the fire, all lessons which were included in the day of learning about fire safety. Another big lesson the kids were learning was just what to expect when the firefighters show up.

“They’re a little bit intimidating when they have on all of their firefighting equipment, and so students need to know what it looks like, what that sounds like, and to be able to act appropriately in a fire,” says Assistant Principal, Marsha Bishop.

Firefighters say that children are often the first people in the home to report a fire, and with enough education, they are very capable of knowing the basics of what to do in a fire emergency, an important cause for a visit to the school by the local fire department.

“Kids are the ones that actually save the lives, that’s why we teach them to do fire drills at home, they’re the ones that have to call 9-1-1. And that’s why we go to schools, the children are very interested in what’s going on.”

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