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Hazelwood Fire Department firefighters visited McNair Elementary recently as part of National Fire Prevention Month, giving students the best lessons from the people who know.

Teacher Susan Meyer’s first grade class trooped outside first after the trucks halted in the parking lot and the guys hopped down from the trucks. Aside from the pumper, the firemen brought a hook-and-ladder truck, an ambulance and towed a Child Safety trailer to the campus.
Meyer split her class into two groups, sending the girls into the safety trailer while the boys ‘ooohed’ and ‘aaahhhed’ over the sight of the guys and their trucks.
Firefighter Bill Theisen led the boys around the truck, explaining some of the items fire fighters use on their jobs. Hazelwood Fire Explorer Sam Eberenz demonstrated the clothing and safety items they have to wear when battling blazes – flame retardant coats, pants, boots, helmet and masks. Not only is all that gear heavy, but it makes its wearer feel hot as well.
Meanwhile, on the first level of the safety trailer, Battalion Chief Tom Stone lectured the students about smoke detector safety, using a display model. He told them where their parents should place smoke detectors and how the battery should be changed at least once a year, usually when we switch between Daylight Saving and Standard Time.
After they listened to Stone, the girls headed to the forward area of the trailer, which resembles a small-scale kitchen. Firefighter Mike Martin told them about kitchen safety; not to leave food cooking on the stove unattended, turn pot and pan handles inward so an arm or elbow won’t knock them off the stove top.
“What do you do if your clothes or your hair catches on fire?” he asked the girls.
“Stop, drop and roll!” they cried in unison, repeating the well-known fire safety rule.
He then asked them if they knew about Mr. Yuck, the green face featured on stickers that remind children not to eat, drink or sniff poisons.
After listening to Stone and Martin speak, the children exited the trailer from a rear-mounted sliding glass door and then firefighter Jim Mangan helped them down an exterior ladder to the pavement. Judy Heuring and Amy Hagedorn’s kindergarten students followed Meyer’s first graders. The older grades visited the firemen and saw their equipment earlier in the day.
“Fire Prevention month teaches kids fire safety rules at an early age,” Stone said. “Then we keep coming back to reinforce the message.” (story courtesy of Hazelwood School Communications Department.)
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