Sparky the Fire Dog, Humboldt Fire Department and Protective Services and the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency teamed up with the Reid Thompson Library for a fund and informative presentation on Wednesday, July 31.
Erin Paulhus and Owen Kristoff are public education coordinators for the SPSA, and they’ve been travelling the area with their friend Sparky to teach youngsters about fire safety and preparedness in the home.
Kids had a chance to play an observation game where they adeptly picked out all the potential safety hazards in a picture of an average home. It was part of the key message surrounding the big three of home safety:
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Plan and prepare
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Be aware
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Spread the word
By keeping their ears and eyes open to potentially unsafe situations, children can help their families by alerting parents.
Erin brought out a smoke detector and talked about the importance of these and their maintenance. It was encouraging to see little hands go up when children were asked to identify the locations of these in the house. The kids were reminded to check for them on every level of the house, in bedrooms or near sleeping areas.
Owen talked to youngsters and their parents about the importance of having fire safety plans and doing drills that included working out exit routes and outside meeting places near trees, lampposts, or other familiar landmarks.
Everyone also learned about identifying what makes for an emergency, instead of just a problem, and they learned about the 911 emergency response systems.
There were lots of hugs and high fives to go around from Sparky. After the presentation, members of the Humboldt Fire Department and Protective Services gave the eager learners a close-up view of their fire response truck, complete with an equipment demonstration and enough lights and sirens to widen a lot of eyes.