The week of October 16 marked a major effort in our annual Fire Prevention Month activities at Station 85. This week saw the arrival of every 2nd grade student in the Wilson School District who were bussed to the station for a fire prevention field trip.

The visit consisted of two parts. Each class arrived and was split into two groups. One group participated in a household fire safety class inside our Kids Safety Trailer, which included fire prevention and safety tips, the value of smoke detectors plus the need to stay low and go. The class climax was the introduction of a small amount of theatrical smoke thru which the students evacuated and met at their pre-arranged meeting spot outside.

The other half reported to our training room where they received instruction on how to dial 911 and report an emergency using our 911 simulator. The simulator consists of a cell phone on which the student can punch in 911 and talk to the leader who answers as “COUNTY 911”. Students were encouraged to think of an emergency to report (which led to some creative events) and to know their home address and phone numbers.

Each session lasted about 30 minutes, after which the groups switched places before returning to school. All totaled, we saw about 500 students hailing from each of the five elementary schools in the Wilson School District: Cornwall Terrace, Spring Ridge, Shiloh Hills, Whitfield and Green Valley.

Another opportunity presented itself when the Department provided fire prevention literature for hand out at the Wilson Area Food Bank distribution, held at the West Lawn United Methodist Community Center on Friday October 20. Since the official theme of the nationwide Fire Prevention Campaign was kitchen fire safety, brochures on safe cooking practices were provided in each of the over 100 parcels of food provided to food bank clients.