October 9 is Fire Prevention Day. Fire safety is an important concept to teach as early on as possible. I want Jude to be as familiar as possible with not only fire safety, but also with firefighters and other first responders so he knows that they are there to help.
We celebrated today by visiting the St. Bernard Firehouse with Jordan and Jed. St. Bernard is a very small village in the Greater Cincinnati area. It only spans about 1.5 square miles, but it neighbors quite a few larger municipalities. I was lucky enough to be connected with Firefighter Ryan through a moms group on Facebook. Firefighter Ryan went above and beyond to show us all of the nooks and crannies of the firehouse.
We started in the apparatus bay with all the trucks. Jude and Jed zipped around touching all the trucks, buttons, and lights that they could get their hands on. Firefighter Ryan told us about the different trucks, gave the boys helmets, and pointed out the anatomy of a firetruck. It was here we learned that a fire engine and a fire truck are different things. Fire engines have all the hoses and conventional firefighting things in them. The firetruck that they had at St. Bernard was a Ladder Truck that has a ladder and less water in it.
The boys got to sit in the different trucks in the bay. Firefighter Ryan and a few of his coworkers helped Jed and Jude try on headphones and turn the lights on. Jed even got to hit the button to open the garage door!
Firefighter Ryan put on all of his gear for us. Jude loved it. He walked up to him and touched his mask and explored the suit. Jed, like almost all children, was a little afraid of the full gear look.
Jed and Jude also got to climb around the back of an ambulance. They were able to safely see all of the components. The back of an ambulance is surprisingly childproof.
We got a full tour of the remainder of the firehouse after we had explored all of the trucks. We saw the rooms where calls come in, the bunks, the gym, the offices of higher-ups, the equipment room, and the kitchen/lounge area. Firefighter Ryan explained to us the ins and outs of each room, how the firefighters use them, and why they are important.
Other than a lot of great information about the firehouse and the occupation of being a firefighter/medic, we also got some important tips from Firefighter Ryan that I would like to share in honor of Fire Safety Day.
1. You shouldn't have any storage around your heating unit.
2. You shouldn't have any storage around your electrical box (they need to be able to get to it quickly to shut off power incase of a fire).
3. You should keep an AB fire extinguisher in your kitchen.
4. Never put out a grease fire with water.
5. Expose your children to firefighters. In case of a fire, you don't want your children to be afraid of the firefighters so that they hide from them instead of getting help.
It was an incredibly informative trip, and it was a lot of fun. Contact your local firehouse and ask if they do walkthroughs. I promise you and your little one will both enjoy the trip!
We wanted to send a huge thank you to the St. Bernard Firehouse and specifically Firefighter Ryan! The trip exceeded my wildest expectations, and I am so incredibly thankful that we got the experience the firehouse like this!
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