Valley firefighters aim to teach fire safety

Staff report

Leading up to its open house Sunday, the Warren Fire Department, armed with a two-story trailer designed to look like an actual house, plans to visit every third-grade classroom in the city in an attempt to raise awareness of fire safety within the home.

Lt. Paul Lamosek of the Warren Fire Department said the goal is to teach children how to call 911, identify hot doors and crawl to safety, and that the department’s hands-on instruction, which includes dispersion of harmless liquid smoke into the trailer, is an effective means of doing so.

“That’s what they remember,” said Lamosek, who added that children are one of the demographics most at risk of being injured or killed in a fire. “It’s a great educational tool.”

The initiative is well-timed, too, as October is National Fire Prevention Month.

The trailer will make an appearance at the open house from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday at Central Station, 111 South St. SE., which also will feature a demonstration of firefighters rappelling down a building, a simulated Jaws of Life rescue and a visit from a Cleveland Metro Life Flight helicopter, all alongside light refreshments and educational booths.

“It allows the public to see just how the fire department operates,” Lamosek said.

At the open house, Lt. Chuck Eggleston, also of the Warren Fire Department, will be manning the Save A Life Smoke Alarm table. Homeowners will be able to fill out applications for free smoke alarms and batteries, which will be installed by volunteers later this month, and in February and April.

Eggleston said any homeowner may apply with SALSA but that the group gives priority to the elderly and to low-income families, which — along with children under age 6 — represent the most at-risk groups for fire-related injury.

Eggleston said the SALSA booth will highlight the need to change out alarms and keep them in working condition.

“What a lot of people don’t realize is that detectors only have a lifespan of 10 years,” said Eggleston, who has spearheaded the effort. “We are going to make sure that we put an emphasis on that people need to change their alarms.”

Austintown Fire Chief Andrew Frost III said his crews also would be pushing the message of fire safety this month, in conjunction with the department’s 75th anniversary. He agreed that smoke detectors are crucial in the fight for fire safety.

“Batteries and smarter detectors save more lives than anything else,” he said.

But he added that school visits are just as important.

“When we start them young, they tend to remember,” Frost said.

Capt. Greg Rosile of the Campbell Fire Department agreed, explaining that repetition is key to a child’s grasping of fire safety.

During his presentations to school-age children, particularly to preschoolers through third-graders, he repeatedly emphasizes what children should do in the event of a fire in the home.

“Run out, get out [and] stay out. We keep going over that,” Rosile said.

Rosile said he also makes sure to explain to children the importance of checking their homes for a working smoke detector, and that he often “assigns” that task to the groups he speaks with.

For the Youngstown Fire Department as well, its message is similar, said Fire Chief John O’Neill Jr.

“Change batteries on smoke detectors with the change of time,” he said.

Daylight Saving Time ends at 2 a.m. Nov. 3, O’Neill said.

A fire can start in almost any situation at your home, officials added.

For example, a Youngstown man escaped a fire that did extensive damage to his 21 S. Bruce St. home on the East Side just before noon Friday.

The homeowner said he thought one of his dogs knocked over a fireplace poker to start the blaze.