Around 1,000 children from area schools are attending “Safety Town” at Randall County’s Fire Station.
A number of emergency services spend time teaching kids about the importance of safety. You can never be too young when it comes to learning about safety.
“The main thing I talk to these kiddos about is making smart choices,” said Laviza Matthews, founder/executive director of Andrea’s Project.
Making poor choices can result in injury or death. It’s something Matthews wishes no parent or family will have to experience.
She tells ABC 7 News that she wants children to understand every day we make choices and choices have consequences.
Accidents are the leading cause of death for children and Matthews says many accidents can be prevented.
“I teach them breathing exercises so how to breathe get your brain full of oxygen start thinking before you act so we talk about emotions and healthy coping skills,” said Matthews.
Safety Town is about educating children. The job of protecting kids is up to parents and caregivers, once children become aware of risks they can take steps to plan for safety.
“A lot of people don’t know or don’t think it’s important to talk about this with their children so any chance we get to do it is a good deal,” said Jeb Hilton, Cpl. Amarillo Police Department. so we come out throughout the year and do this but this is our chance to get together in the same place talk about the same message and reach a whole bunch of people.”
“We believe if you reach a generation when they’re this little by the time they're 17 and 18 they’ll know how bad this is they see the consequences first hand,” said Matthews.
Instructors go over basic fire safety & being safe on the water and around electricity. The drought is having an impact on outdoor activities so the kids learn safety needs to be your first priority as the summer months are one of the most dangerous periods for fire-related accidents, injuries and deaths.
“We are experiencing high winds and it is a very dangerous time to be doing anything that can potentially start a fire so it’s very important of us to get to those kids at a young age,” said Jeff Justus, community liaison for AFD.
A multitude of agencies hosts this event in the late springtime right after the kids complete the STAAR Test at school this is also at the beginning of vacation season which gets going in a couple of weeks.
Day two of Safety Town gets underway Wednesday and will run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.