Spokane County Fire District’s school programs are opportunities to educate children about fire and life safety. Preparedness is a top priority for our department.
Fire and Disaster Readiness
15-Year Old Put Just-Learned CPR Skills to The Test on Grandfather
March 25, 2014, Richard Morgan, left, suffered cardiac arrest recently and survived because his granddaughter Shelby Morgan, 15, knew CPR. Shelby had just taken a CPR class in school a few days before. – Spokesman Review
Exit Drills In The Home (EDITH)
The EDITH program is presented to 4th graders throughout the district. The EDITH house is an actual full-size trailer that resembles a camping trailer from outside, and a real house inside. The kids visit the kitchen to talk about cooking safety, then they go to the living room to talk about candle/heater/fireplace safety.
The most exciting part of the tour happens in the next room. In the “bedroom”, the students learn about checking for heat in closed bedroom doors and about having two ways out. A smoke detector will sound and fake smoke begins to fill the room. The heated door tells them they can’t go that way, so the window is used for escape. There are firefighters outside to help the children get down safely, and then they gather at a “meeting place” to learn the importance of having one!
Click here to learn more about how to make a home fire escape plan and EDITH.
Sound Off
SOUND OFF WITH THE HOME FIRE SAFETY PATROL – A fire safety program for students and families
Each year in the United States, almost 3,000 people die in home fires. Research shows that having working smoke alarms can cut the risk of dying in a fire almost in half. To better protect the community of Spokane County Fire District 4 (SCFD4), we have adopted the Sound Off with the Home Fire Safety Patrol program. Sound Off is a school-and community-based initiative to reach households with education and smoke alarms to keep them safe from home fires. Sound Off is the only evaluated classroom-based program designed specifically to provide home safety visits along with effective classroom lessons to ensure that homes have working smoke alarms and knowledge of what to do when they beep (warning of a home fire) or chirp (signaling low battery power).
SCFD4 works through local 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms and community events to raise awareness of the importance of working smoke alarms and to install free smoke alarms in homes that lack this vital protection. Sound Off was field-tested through six previous DHS/FEMA grants and proven successful in hundreds of communities throughout the United States, with an average national student knowledge gain of 46.8%.
Program Objectives
- To educate children and their families about smoke alarms including their sounds, their care, and their life-saving importance
- To foster a community-wide approach to fire safety by forging partnerships among students, families, educators, fire personnel, and life safety educators
- To identify families that do not have enough working smoke alarms and to provide and install smoke alarms provided through the American Red Cross and other safety partners.
Additional Resources
LINKS TO HELP CHILDREN STAY PREPARED FOR DISASTERS
Links to help children stay prepared for disasters.
If you have any questions or would like to schedule a fire station tour please contact our District Office at 509-467-4500.
