BURRILLVILLE – With the holiday season underway and the approaching of the busy home fire season, we need to make sure kids know that they should not hide during a home fire.
Kids should be taught to quickly exit a home during the event of a fire and go to an established meeting place so everyone knows that their family is outside and safe. If for some reason, they are trapped inside an apartment or house during a fire they should never hide. Firefighters enter apartments and houses to rescue individuals that may be trapped inside a burning building. Kids should crawl towards firefighters while remaining under any smoke caused by the fire. Kids should never hide under beds, in closets or inside any other object large enough for them to hide inside. Kids should be taught to approach firefighters. It’s better for the child, as well as the firefighter, risking his/her lives in order to save your family members. Firefighters are dressed in protective clothing and gear that may appear frightening to a little kid, especially during a fearful and dangerous apartment or house fire.
This Sunday cartoon features the popular firefighter dinosaur cartoon characters; Fearless Dino Protector Squad. Please share this important fire safety and burn prevention coloring cartoon wherever children and families gather during the holiday season. Remind kids that it is not safe to hide from a firefighter in the event of a fire.
“Kids, don’t run and hide. There is a firefighter inside.”
Jim Weicherding is a Burrillville resident, and the founder and creator of an award-winning traffic safety effort Seasons of Safety. Weicherding contributes kids’ coloring cartoons, which can be printed and used to help parents discuss safety issues with their children. He has a long list of police officers and firefighters in his family and has worked with law enforcement and firefighters in a creative public safety capacity for more than two decades.
