[October 24, 2012]    

Tuesday morning the Lincoln Fire Department wrapped up a month of classroom visits by spending the morning at Washington-Monroe School. October is Fire Safety Month, and the fire department dedicates itself to raising awareness through education in all the elementary schools in the city.

Tuesday they began their day in the third-grade classroom of Marsha Elsas and moved from classroom to classroom throughout the morning, talking to kids about fire safety and answering questions about the department.

Pictures by Nila Smith

Ms. Elsas and her class prepare to listen to the firefighters' presentations.

Assistant Fire Chief Darrin Coffey was the teacher for the day.

 

The kids gave Coffey their full attention as he spoke about smoke detectors and how kids can encourage mom and dad to make sure the detectors are working.

Coffey asked the kids questions about how to get out of a burning home safely.  Many of the children remembered what they learned last year, much to the delight of the firefighters.

 

Coffey talked about checking doors before opening them, and how kids should crawl through their house to get out so that they are below whatever smoke might be in the building.

Inspector Bret Tripplett stood by, ready to offer the "pop quiz" at the end of the discussions.