Firefighters demonstrate fire safety, equipment

Eyes wide and a big grin on his face, Jordan Haflich tried to absorb every detail about the big shiny fire trucks on display Saturday during a fire department open house.

Haflich, 6, nodded his head vigorously when asked if he wanted to be a firefighter when he grows up.

And what did he like the best?

“The brand new truck,” he said.

As part of Fire Prevention Month, the Garden City Fire Department held an open house Saturday at the Labrador station on Mary Street.

Ken Seirer, battalion chief, said firefighters are spending a lot of time in Garden City schools this month for a variety of things designed to educate students about fire safety and prevention.

“October is busy for us. We spend a lot of time in the schools, and the schools come to the station for tours,” he said.

The open house offered people the chance to see the department’s trucks, get a hands-on feel of some of the equipment and tools and learn more about how local firefighters do their jobs.

Also on display was a technical rescue trailer and equipment, a demonstration of how firefighters extricate people from vehicles, and an activity allowing kids to spray water through a fire hose at a target.

There were also fire safety brochures, coloring books for kids, year-end report of department calls, and hand-outs containing information about inspections and training.

Aubrey and Darlene Gibson brought their grandsons, Haflich, and Dylan Gibson, 9, to the open house.

“It’s been really interesting to see everything, and to learn about all the new technologies they work with now,” Darlene Gibson said.

Dylan Gibson said he’s really not into fire engines much but he did enjoy some of the things he saw on Saturday.

“I really liked the smoke house. It was pretty interesting. You got to learn how to get down and crawl,” he said. “I couldn’t see anybody when I was on the bed.”

Trey and Emily Johnson, who moved to Garden City from Denver about a year ago, walked around the fire station with daughter, Hailey, 2, and two-month-old son, Conner.

“It helps Hailey get less nervous,” Emily Johnson said. “Just to know that they’re not scary.”

Trey Johnson said the family came to last year’s open house, and feel it is a good opportunity to get to know the firefighters.

Seirer said some of the things firefighters do in addition to going out on calls include ongoing station and vehicle maintenance, continuing training and education, life safety inspections of every business once per year, and checking every hydrant in the city twice per year.

During October, a lot of their time is spent on education activities in local schools.

Typically, the education program is for kids from pre-school and day care levels up to third or fourth grade. Seirer said the younger kids start with basic information but the older kids start to provide more feedback to questions reflecting what they’ve learned over the years.

Much of the education is basics such as checking smoke detectors, stop, drop and roll, fire drills and making sure the family designates a meeting place outside if there ever is a fire in the home.

When firefighters have to go look for people inside, it changes how they operate.

“Once you get out of the house, make sure everybody in the family has somewhere to meet — the mailbox, the neighbor’s tree, whatever it is — so when we get there we know everybody is out of the house,” Seirer said. “And then, our job is easy. All we have to do is put out the fire.”

One thing Seirer has learned is kids often reinforce the message to parents when sharing what they learned at school during fire prevention week. Many adults heard the same messages as children but it helps reinforce the ideas when their children bring them home.

Fire drills are also important, Seirer said, though they probably aren’t practiced as much at home as they should be.

Studies have shown that as people get in the habit of going in and out of the same door every day, when a fire occurs they try to use those same places even if they are cut off by fire and smoke.

“People get confused and think they have to go out the same way. There’s always other options. A backdoor, a garage door, a window. Think of other ways to get out of the house,” he said. “It’s habit.”

This was the fourth year for the station to offer an open house.

www.ksffa.com