Trip to the Fire Station

We were fortunate first graders again this week!  One of our special paraprofessionals, Kristen Heuer, is married to a Hamilton fire fighter.  Mr. Heuer agreed to have all three first grade classes visit the Fire Station for a tour.  The excitement built as we passed by the new skate park on our walk over to the station.

Mr. Heuer started by explaining to the children all the different types
of trucks they have and when they would be used.

Mr. Heuer and Mr. Kempkers show the children one of the
oxygen tanks they use.  Each tank holds about an hour's
worth of air.  In big fires when they are working hard, the
air may last half as long.

After Mr. Heur talked to us about the many trucks, the kids were allowed to walk through all the trucks for a close up look.

We learned that most of the calls are medical calls or accidents.
The firefighters average about 12 big fires per year.

There are three pumper trucks in Hamilton. We learned that across the street is a holding tank
that stores water to fill the pumper trucks. In a pinch, water can also be sucked out of ponds,
rivers and even a swimming pool when on the scene of a big fire.

It was neat to see all the compartments and see the equipment and many tools used.

These jeeps are used to get to fires in areas a fire truck cannot reach.  Areas such as a wooded area
are perfect examples of a place where the jeep would be used.

Backside of the pumper trucks.

On the others side of these jeeps, there is even a fire boat!  The boat would be used to rescue
people if their boat capsizes, or if someone is trapped or hurt on the river, or for
and ice rescue.  Mr. Heuer said it is one of their newer purchases, but has been used
already several times.

Next we went into the conference room area.  Mr. Heuer reviewed many safety rules with the children. It was a great review for the children and can never be heard too often!

Mr. Heuer showed the children what a smoke alarm would sound like.  He also told the children
that if their family needed a smoke alarm for their home, to let their teacher know and the
fire department would get a free smoke alarm to the teacher to send home with them!

We watched a short fire safety video (an oldie, but goodie) produced by Disney. I actually remember viewing it when I was a child (now that's OLD).  In the movie, Donald Duck learns how to prevent fires in his home he shares with his three nephews. They also have a home fire drill so that they are ready if there is ever a fire.  This is something all the children were also encouraged to do at home!

After the movie the children had a big surprise!  A fire fighter came out of the bathroom!  According to Mr. Heuer, many children are afraid of firefighters and will hide in their closet or under their bed.

Crawl near the floor where the air is best.  Even though you can't see much of a face, and it
sounds like Darth Vader, do not be afraid of a fire fighter!

Mr. Kempkers helps the fire fighter with the mask.

It's MRS. HEUER !!!!  What a great sport!
The Hamilton Fire Department does have one female fire fighter, so the kids
were told that BOTH boys and girls could grow up to be a fire fighter!

It was so much fun to visit the fire station!  But when we went back to school, there was more learning to be done!

We wrote Thank you notes to Mr. Heuer.  The kids wrote and drew a picture about something they learned at the fire station or a fire safety rule that they knew.

We wrote on fire helmets about what to do in case of fire.

We made cute fire dogs to take home as a culmination to our unit on fire safety!

Do'olo, Owen L., Chloe and Isaac

Bridger, Ashlynn, Owen D., Jacob, Ryleigh, William

Brayden, Bailey, Jaden, Kylee

Elijah, Aubanie, Clayton, Aiden, Taylor, Tristan

Close up of our fire dog project.

The completed  pack of fire dogs!

It was a fun day, but also a great day for reviewing fire safety and prevention!  Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Heuer for making our unit more fun and helping us learn more than we could in the classroom alone.  We appreciate all of our fire fighters in Hamilton and thank you for keeping us safe!