Published: March 22, 2008 11:40 pm      

Children take Fire Department’s challenge

“I see some firemen!” exclaimed 4-year-old Cameron Couch, who was taking a tour of the Cross Timbers Municipal Complex during the Edmond Fire Department Children’s Safety Challenge.

Maj. Mike Fitzgerald said about 100 children between the ages of 4 and 10 attended the safety challenge March 18-21. The Edmond Fire Department started the Children’s Safety Challenge last spring break with about 50 children.

“The purpose is to bring kids in and have a fun environment to learn not just fire safety but also preventative safety,” he said. “Unfortunately, thousands of children die each year from preventable injuries.”

Fitzgerald said they taught the children about fire, bike and water safety.

“If we don’t stay safe, a lot of people wouldn’t get to live and there wouldn’t be as many people doing what they are supposed to,” said Jillian Douglass, 8.

Fitzgerald said one challenge for the children was telling the difference between a real gun and a fake gun. The children thought they would be able to tell the difference but after going through several pictures they realized it’s sometimes impossible to tell.

Sheree Buchli, 10, said she thinks it’s important to learn about safety so she will know what to do if she faces a real situation. She said she really enjoyed crawling through tubes as they practiced how to crawl low to the ground during a fire.

Fitzgerald said everything they are teaching in the challenges and more eventually will be taught at the Children’s Safety Village. This is an upcoming project that will be built at Fire Station No. 5 at the Cross Timbers Municipal Complex.

The Safety Challenge ended Saturday as the children went through a five-part obstacle course.

Kelly Lewis, Edmond Fire Department, said each child had to answer a safety question before they could proceed to the next obstacle. In one obstacle, students slid down a slide and rushed to put fire gear on as quickly as possible. In another, they had to pick up a hose, drag it 10 feet and put out a fake fire made of orange cones.

Lewis said these were all skills the children learned and practiced during the week.