Students learn fire safety at Seymour Smith

PINE PLAINS — Last Friday, May 29, the fire departments and emergency medical services in the towns of Pine Plains, Milan and Ancram gathered outside Seymour Smith Elementary School for a day of fire safety.

The whole elementary school participated in the various safety stations the 25 fire, EMS and Explorer’s Program (which trains people too young to become firefighters) volunteers had set up for the students, which ran from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Rob Mizgier, this year’s fire prevention coordinator, is promoting the Tot Finder program, which has recently seen a resurgence in popularity. When the popular reflective stickers first came out, children were taught to stick them on their windows. However, with the risk of child abductions the project fell by the wayside. Now families are instructed to apply the stickers inside their homes on the bottom of children’s bedroom doors, so firefighters know which rooms have children in them. The stickers were distributed in fire safety pamphlets given to all the children, and are also available at the town’s firehouse by calling 518-398-1311.

Different stations included a smoke house, where children learned the importance of crawling on your hands and knees and touching walls to see if there is fire on the other side. At another station children learned to recognize and use a fire extinguisher to put out a flame. The students learned the ins and outs of firetrucks and ambulances, and upstairs in the elementary building there was a detailed miniature hazard house, where children had to correctly determine which household objects in each of the rooms were dangerous and needed to be removed.

“The program is going to prevent fires and deaths,� said Mizgier. “The kids retain information. It’s very surprising when you come back the next year and ask questions. The answers are right there.�