Firefighters Educating The Public During National Fire Prevention Week

While the Elk Fire may be an inconvenience for many, it’s happening at a time when fire crews are also trying to educate the public about fire danger.

This week is National Fire Prevention Week.

As a part of their education, several Sheridan area schools are having their younger students take a field trip tour of the downtown fire station. 

Sheridan Fire Chief Gary Harnish says the best time to start teaching children about fire safety is around their preschool and kindergarten age.

While a fire may be scary for many, if a child needs to be rescued and they don’t know what a firefighter looks like, they might think that’s scarier than the fire itself.

“The biggest thing is what we want to teach them is what we look like when we are all dressed up in our gear and then we’ll start out that program just showing a firefighter in his daily uniform and then we’ll slowly put on the gear and keep talking with the kids, talking about what the gear is for. That way if they’re ever in a situation where they are inside of a fire and they see somebody in all the gear crawling towards them, they’re not afraid of them and hide.”

This coming Saturday (October 12th), Sheridan Fire-Rescue will host an open house from 10am until 2pm at the downtown station.

Firefighting personnel will provide tours of the station and provide educational challenges for the public.