BRIGHTON – In an effort to ensure lessons on fire safety stuck to young and impressionable minds, the Brighton Volunteer Fire Department hosted something similar to a day camp.
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
Children from the area between the ages of 7-10 were invited to spend the day at the fire station Friday in order to get some real-life experience in what firefighters do as well as what they should do if they find themselves or their families in situations requiring emergency assistance. The day camp was opened to 40 children and featured as many as four stations for kids to practice their firefighter prowess, including a first aid station, a station in which they were able to drag dummies from a living room setting, another in which kids were able to have water packs and hit targets with a stream and even an obstacle course built by some of the volunteer firefighters. It ended with the kids finding themselves at their family's hypothetical agreed-upon meeting place.
“We hope these kids take this back home with them and talk about it with their parents over dinner time,” Brighton Fire Chief Jason Bowman said. “That's really what we're trying to get out of this today.”
The day camp was the brain child of the department's fire safety officers, Samantha Sykes and Jeremiah Mager. Usually to instruct kids on fire safety, Bowman said firefighters will visit the schools and host open houses. Attendance at those open houses can vary greatly, however, so Bowman wanted to see if they could make a lasting impact on a large amount of children at once.
“We opened it up for 40 kids, and it pretty much hit capacity within a few days,” Bowman said. “It was like we sold out, but it was all free.”
Another reason the program was put into place was to gain young interest in the department's cadet program through the high school. Some of the classes through that program transfer to higher education institutions and will go towards medic or fire science credits.
“Our cadet program gets kids in high school working on credits at places like Lewis and Clark (Community College),” Mager said. “It will get them working on things like fire science and being EMT-certified.”
Outside of firefighter activities, the children attending the day camp were also treated to free t-shirts and lessons on “stranger danger” from the Brighton Police Department, which also offered a demonstration of their K-9 unit.
The department was also able to simulate a call to service in which they all dressed for a fire and did a mock call, complete with a hose spraying.
Lunch for the kids was provided through a donation from Brighton Assembly of God Church.
