Fire Prevention Week Teaches About Safety
By: Betsy Reason
Case Morris, 7, Noblesville, a first-grader at Hinkle Creek Elementary School and the son of Spencer and Jamie Morris, uses a water hose to spray a wooden house to put out a pretend fire during the recent Noblesville Fire Department Auxiliary Pancake Breakfast and Fire Station Open House at Station No. 71 in downtown Noblesville.
Noblesville Fire Department Division Chief Scott Hunter pours on the syrup for the all-you-can-eat pancakes at the recent NFD Auxiliary Pancake Breakfast and Fire Station Open House at NFD Station No. 71 in downtown Noblesville.
Noblesville Fire Department firefighters and auxiliary volunteers make pancakes during the recent Noblesville Fire Department Auxiliary Pancake Breakfast and Fire Station Open House at Station No. 71 in downtown Noblesville.
Kids got to climb on Noblesville Fire Department’s fire engines during the recent NFD Auxiliary Pancake Breakfast and Fire Station Open House at Station No. 71 in downtown Noblesville.
Kids line up to use a water hose to spray a wooden house to put out a pretend fire during the recent Noblesville Fire Department Auxiliary Pancake Breakfast and Fire Station Open House at Station No. 71 in downtown Noblesville.
During the recent Noblesville Fire Department Auxiliary Pancake Breakfast and Open House at Station 71, families enjoy the bounce houses, tested for safety the day before by NFD’s C-Crew.
Kids climb into a rescue boat during the recent Noblesville Fire Department Auxiliary Pancake Breakfast and Open House at Station 71.
Whenever I put a pan on the stove in the kitchen, I set my oven timer for under 5 minutes. That way, if I walk away or get distracted, the timer will go off once every minute, and remind me that I have a pan on the stove.
Sounds simple, right? Setting a cell phone timer when cooking is just one of the tips that Noblesville Fire Department offers during National Fire Prevention Week, Oct. 8-14.
October is Fire Prevention Month and today is the final day of National Fire Prevention Week.
“The best and easiest way to put out a small grease fire is to cover the pan with a lid.” That’s another tip NFD offered during Fire Prevention Week.
National Fire Protection Association’s theme for this year’s Fire Prevention Week is “Cooking safety starts with You! Pay attention to Fire Prevention.”
Unattended cooking is the leading cause of cooking fires and deaths, according to NFPA. If you must leave the room, turn off the stove before walking away.
Cooking is the leading cause of home fires, and two of every five home fires start in the kitchen with 31 percent of these fires resulting from unattended cooking. More than half of reported non-fatal home cooking fire injuries occurred when the victims tried to fight the fire themselves. Children under age 5 face a higher risk of nonfire burns associated with cooking than being burned in a cooking fire, according to NFD’s statistics.
Fire Prevention Week is observed annually during the week of Oct. 9 in commemoration of the Great Chicago Fire, which began Oct. 8, 1871.
In Noblesville, NFD has already had a busy month. On Oct. 4, crews had a busy morning teaching fire safety and prevention at Noblesville Methodist Preschool and Faith Montessori School.
In October, according to NFD, the fire department will speak to more than 1,000 children about fire prevention and safety.
The Fire Department teaches how to call 911, have a safe meeting place, sleep with your door closed, make sure your home has working smoke detectors, and to be safe around campfires.
NFD currently has 140 career firefighters, including 10 full-time staff positions, operating out of seven fire stations, and covers 58 square miles and a population of 72,000 citizens. Matt Mitchell is NFD fire chief.
On the first day of Fire Prevention Week, Noblesville Mayor Chris Jensen visited NFD with a City of Noblesville Proclamation, proclaiming Oct. 8-14 Fire Prevention Week in Noblesville.
Just before Fire Prevention Week began, on last Saturday, Hamilton County Professional Firefighters Local 4416 and Carmel Professional Firefighters Local 4444 volunteered their time and offered Fire Ops 101 at the Hamilton County Training Center, where local leaders and decision makers participated in controlled, realistic scenarios and learned what firefighters, paramedics and EMTs are doing in the county to make their communities safer.
During Noblesville Main Street’s First Friday Fall Festival on Oct. 6, trick-or-treaters who visited the Noblesville Public Safety Building had an opportunity to get candy — by the handful if they dressed as firefighters — play fun games and see the firehouse dogs, Carbon and Luna.
We usually know when it’s Fire Prevention Week, because NFD Auxiliary’s annual all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast usually takes places around this time at Station 71 in downtown Noblesville
Every year, we try to attend the breakfast. This year, the breakfast took place on a beautiful Saturday morning, the last Saturday in September, and the crowd was the largest that I’ve seen to come and support the NFD.
Hundreds of families descended upon Station No. 71 for the breakfast and fire station open house
Part of the attraction was $5 for all-you-can-eat pancakes and free breakfast to ages 8 and younger.
But the big attraction was that kids could enjoy bounce houses (tested for safety the day before by NFD’s C-Crew). And climb on NFD Fire Engines, tour the NFD Firehouse and sit in a rescue boat. And with the help of a firefighter, kids could use a water hose to spray a wooden house to put out a pretend fire. Kids could meet and talk with Noblesville firefighters. And they could get their own free red plastic firefighter hats.
It was good to see all of the families visit the downtown Noblesville fire station on the beautiful Saturday fall morning.
-Betsy Reason writes about people, places and things in Hamilton County. Contact The Times Editor Betsy Reason at betsy@thetimes24-7.com.