Friday, October 28, 2011

Exeter Junior Fire Patrol Graduates

The Exeter Volunteer Fire Department hosts a Junior Fire Patrol classes each fall during Fire Safety Month in October. This is the fourteenth year that the Exeter Volunteer Fire Department has sponsored the Junior Fire Patrol for area fifth graders. This year there were ten participants.
The fire department hosts the program at Exeter Fire Hall and attendance is required for all four sessions. During the sessions the students plan a fire escape plan individualized to their home, learn about fire hazards in the home, learn burn prevention and first aid, and how to use a fire extinguisher to put out a fire.
 
One of the most important lessons the kids learn is about the damage that arson causes and how to prevent fires inside and outside. Ed Mark is the Chairman of the Junior Fire Patrol project for the Exeter Volunteer Fire Department.  Mark started the program in 1998 after researching educational materials and designing the program for the Fire Department to approve. "We wanted to help teach the kids more fire safety so we could save some lives. . .who knows what value it will have in their future lives."

The students are required to attend every one of the four sessions and perform each assignment if they want to acheive the rank of junior fire marshal. Some of the assignments include fun, like running the water hoses on the department trucks, while others, like crawling through a room full of artificial smoke, are a much greater challenge.

If the students pass the final written exam, attend all the meetings and complete the other requirements then they become a junior fire marshal of the Exeter Fire Department.
After so many years of watching students take the junior fire patrol course Mark is still amazed at the fifth graders, "Every year they grab the information. The intensity level is amazing. They just want to learn. We have great kids every year."

Junior Fire Patrol graduates pose for a picture with their instructors.  Front row from the left are Ed Mark, Kate Jansky, Mitchell Manning, Theron Odvody, Blake Stueben, Josie Kresak and Michelle Bassett.  Back row from the left are Hope Androyna, Tim Axline, Colton Bossaller, Peytan Brandt, Spencer Pribyl, Johnny Babula, Macy Due, Dennis Johnson and Ken Strate.

The Exeter Volunteer Fire Department hosts a Junior Fire Patrol classes each fall during Fire Safety Month in October. This is the fourteenth year that the Exeter Volunteer Fire Department has sponsored the Junior Fire Patrol for area fifth graders. This year there were ten participants.
The fire department hosts the program at Exeter Fire Hall and attendance is required for all four sessions. During the sessions the students plan a fire escape plan individualized to their home, learn about fire hazards in the home, learn burn prevention and first aid, and how to use a fire extinguisher to put out a fire.
 
One of the most important lessons the kids learn is about the damage that arson causes and how to prevent fires inside and outside. Ed Mark is the Chairman of the Junior Fire Patrol project for the Exeter Volunteer Fire Department.  Mark started the program in 1998 after researching educational materials and designing the program for the Fire Department to approve. "We wanted to help teach the kids more fire safety so we could save some lives. . .who knows what value it will have in their future lives."

The students are required to attend every one of the four sessions and perform each assignment if they want to achieve the rank of junior fire marshal. Some of the assignments include fun, like running the water hoses on the department trucks, while others, like crawling through a room full of artificial smoke, are a much greater challenge.

If the students pass the final written exam, attend all the meetings and complete the other requirements then they become a junior fire marshal of the Exeter Fire Department.
After so many years of watching students take the junior fire patrol course Mark is still amazed at the fifth graders, "Every year they grab the information. The intensity level is amazing. They just want to learn. We have great kids every year."

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