The Crookston Fire Department will celebrate Fire Prevention Week starting Monday, October 9. Since 1922, the NFPA has sponsored a public observance of Fire Prevention Week. This is the longest-standing public health observance in the United States. During Fire Prevention Week, children, adults, and teachers learn to stay safe in fire situations. Firefighters will provide life-saving, public education and efforts to decrease casualties caused by fires.
“During Fire prevention week, we, as firefighters in Crookston, like to get into the schools and meet with each of the grades,” said Fire Fighter and Fire prevention Coordinator Brian Hansen, “We’re going to start with Pre-K this year, and we’ll go all the way up to fifth grade at Highland Elementary.”
Students at Highland Elementary will be given homework from the Fire Department consisting of checking smoke detectors within their homes with an adult’s help. The children will count how many smoke detectors they have in their homes, as well as carbon monoxide detectors, and make sure they are working correctly. “It’s funny how throughout the year, someone could take batteries out for a TV remote, and you wouldn’t even know about it,” said Hansen, “Mom and dad might be at work, kids take the batteries out and don’t tell their parents, and you can go to bed that night without having a working smoke detector which, we can’t have in our community.”
The Crookston Fire Department will be visiting three elementary schools during the week. Below, you can find the find schedule for the week-
On Monday, October 9, Fire Fighters will visit Highland Elementary School for first, second, and third graders.
Wednesday, October 11, firefighters will visit Washington Elementary School during the morning, followed by a visit to Highland Elementary in the afternoon for the fourth and fifth graders.
Thursday, October 12, Fire Fighters will visit Washington School preschool students.
Friday, October 13, Fire Fighters will visit Our Saviors Elementary School.
The Crookston Fire Department will host its annual Open House on Saturday, October 14, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. This year’s theme is “Cooking Safety Starts With You.”
“A lot of our focus is going to be on the cooking safety,” said Hansen, “We will have a live kitchen fire demonstration at 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., in case people in the community haven’t seen our demonstrations at Nite to Unite.” This demonstration will include a kitchen prop in the Fire Department’s parking lotOC, and a firefighter will take the audience through what can happen when trying to put out a grease fire with water.
The open house will also include thermal imager demonstrations and an obstacle course for children. Food and drinks will also be served during the event. The menu will include hotdogs, chips, and juice for the children and families to enjoy during the Open House.
