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Program in Howland teaches children how to stay safe
By Ed Runyan
HOWLAND
The annual Safety Town program run by the Howland Fire Department teaches children about to start kindergarten a variety of skills for staying safe.
But fire safety became an especially timely topic this week in light of the fire that killed four children and two adults on Landsdowne Avenue Northwest in Warren a week ago.
Kelly McGilton, fire-safety inspector and Safety Town coordinator, said Howland Township has been fortunate to have avoided fire fatalities in recent years, but the department devotes a lot of time to prevention.
“We stress the importance of checking smoke detectors, giving out 9-volt batteries [for smoke detectors] to the kids, teaching them what a smoke detector sounds like, telling them to go home and ask their parents if they have a smoke detector,” she said.
This year, 54 children participated in Safety Town at Howland Springs School on Howland Springs Road. The 15-hour program ends today.
In addition to talking to the kids about smoke-detector safety, organizers sent fire-safety materials home with their parents, McGilton said. The department gives away about 350 batteries and about 35 smoke detectors every year.
George Brown, Boardman Township’s new fire chief and former Howland fire chief, attended Thursday’s Safety Town class to show the program to several Boardman firefighters.
Brown said he knows the information Howland children have received over the years has had an impact.
About a decade ago, an 11-year-old Howland boy who’d been to Safety Town several years earlier helped his mom escape a fire at their house by telling her to “get down and crawl” after she became disoriented.
“It just proves that working with kids can save lives,” Brown said.
The Howland Fire Department used its fire-safety trailer this week to teach the kids about heat, smoke and crawling on the floor to avoid smoke, McGilton said.
But the children also learned about pedestrian safety, school-bus safety, seat-belt safety, pet safety, water safety, poison safety, bike safety, gun safety, playground safety and how to deal with strangers.
The class is free to all Howland children, paid for with donations from area businesses.