Firefighters stress fire safety, prevention

By RANDY BURNS
Item Staff Writer
rburns@theitem.com

Firefighters in the tri-county area are spreading the message of fire prevention and safety as they visit schools and host special events at fire stations as part of Fire Prevention Month activities.

Lee County Firefighter Brian Eargle said more than 50 children and adults participated in a recent open house at the Ashwood Fire Station on U.S. 15, less than a mile from Ashwood Lake.

“It was a success,” Eargle said. “Sparky the Dog is always a hit. And everybody likes free hot dogs.”

Eargle said the event focused on providing fire prevention tips to families, but also served as a thank you to the community.

“The Ashwood community is very supportive of our fire department,” Eargle said. “They are always doing something for the firefighters. We appreciate the support. This event is a way to reach out to the community, and we hope to make it even a bigger event next year.”

Capt. Brian Horton of the Sumter Fire Department said fire prevention is a year-round activity.

“We’ll go anywhere to talk about fire safety and fire prevention,” Horton said. “We do a lot during Fire Prevention Week, which now has been expanded to Fire Prevention Month. But we do it 12 months a year.”

During Fire Prevention Month, Horton said, the department focuses on reaching out to students in preschool through second grade.

Students touring the fire station on 129 E. Hampton Ave. are given coloring books and pencils, Horton said.

Tours at the department’s training facility on McCrays Mill Road and the East Hampton Avenue fire station can be arranged by calling (803) 436-2600.

Battalion Chief Tommy Sauls of the Clarendon County Fire Department said his department visits public and private schools in October and throughout the school year.

“We’ll visit schools through the fifth grade, mostly, and we’ll take a fire truck,” Sauls said. “We teach kids to always know two ways to get out of the house in case of fire. And we make sure they know how to use 911.”

Lee County firefighters are also making their way to every elementary school in the county this month.

“We try to make contact with every youngster in kindergarten through third grade,” Eargle said. “There’s a lot of information we want to go over. But we always try to emphasize a few things.”

Eargle said knowing how to use 911 for an emergency is the most important piece of information when it comes to fire safety.

“We want the youngsters to know when is the right to call 911, and what (they) should say when they call,” Eargle said.

Eargle also wants children to not be afraid of firefighters.

“If there’s a structure fire and we have to go in the house to rescue someone,” said Eargle, “we don’t want children to be scared of us. Sometimes the mask and equipment we wear will intimidate them. That’s when we go to the schools, we like to wear all of the equipment. We don’t want them to be scared of us. Sometimes you’ll have a child (who) will get scared and hide.”

Firefighters also make sure children know how to stop, drop and roll when there’s smoke inside a house.

“We go over these steps with children,” he said.

The National Center for Injury Prevention and Control reports that someone dies in a fire in the United States every two hours, and someone is injured every 29 minutes.

Every year almost 40,000 children ages 14 and younger are injured in residential fires, and more than 500 die.

Fire Prevention Month, or Week as it was previously known, has been observed since 1922. Communities throughout the nation hold activities in October to increase awareness of the importance of practicing fire safety.



Contact Staff Writer Randy Burns at rburns@theitem.com or (803) 491-4533.