Looking Back, March 17, 1988
Looking Back, March 17, 1988: Program teaches kids fire prevention
In January, an 11-year-old Washington boy saved the life of a 5-year-old boy when he applied the fire safety lessons he had learned in school. The older youth extinguished the young child’s flaming clothing by knocking him to the ground and rolling him over and over.
The Quincy Fire Department is hoping school and community participation in a new program called Firebusters will yield similar life-saving results. The Quincy Fire Department is promoting the Firebusters program along with the fire departments throughout Washington.
The basis of the Firebusters program is a five-part news series that will air on the five o’clock news on KIRO & KREM, television next week. Each program will focus on one of the major fire problems in Washington.
Students at Quincy elementary schools will receive a worksheet with questions on each of the five subjects to complete with the help of family members. Students who return worksheets to the Quincy fire station or Skipper’s Restaurants are eligible to win prizes.
Quincy Fire Marshal Charles Carveau said the program is a fun way and interesting way to get the whole family thinking about fire safety. He said many lives could have been saved in the state in recent months by putting into practice some of the information provided in the Firebusters series.
The series will focus on wood heating, juvenile fire-setting, smoke detectors, kitchen fires and careless smoking. Fire service records indicate that wood heating equipment is now the leading cause of fires in the state. Fires from smoking materials remain the leading cause of fatalities in the state and across the nation, however.
The problem of juvenile fire-setting is one increasing concern to fire service professionals and parents alike.
More than 350,000 Firebusters worksheets and posters are being distributed in the state. The project is being coordinated with the support of the Washington state Fire Chief’s Association.