My dept. usually "builds" around a stove (cabinets, curtains, etc.) anyway and has oven and stove top fires demos.
"When I was young, my ambition was to be one of the people who made a difference in this world. My hope is to leave the world a little better for my having been there."
-- Jim Henson (1936 - 1990)
Stop, Drop & Roll Station.
Escape/Crawl low and Go Station.
Gear Station - Kids get to try it on AND you have something printed up that tells the adults how much it costs to fully gear up a FFer (including airpack and PASS).
Tool Station (costs as well).
Brochure Station.
Tri-Folds with picyuresd of department activities including runs, training, public ed, etc.
Recruitment Station.
Hands On Apparatus Area.
Fire Extingusher Demonstrations.
Live Fire Demos.
Extrication Demos.
For Fire Prevention Week, we distribute EDITH maps to all local school children, and as many others of you, do tons of tours and school visits. In addition, we have an open house which includes the following:
Gear try-on station with a display explaining the purpose of each piece of gear, Truck display, and with each of our fire trucks, the kids can get a "trading card" of that truck with its picture and information on it, a firefighter challenge course with scaled down firefighting tasks in an obstacle course for the older kids to complete, our fire safety house where children (or adults) can practice crawling low under smoke, a wooden "maze" where they can crawl through wearing a hood (backwards to obscure their vision) and search for a hidden object and find their way out, a tattoo station, a coloring station at a small-sized table, a stop, drop, and roll station, demonstrations of fire extinguishers, and a scavenger hunt the kids can complete to help them meet some of the firefighters and learn some fie safety information; those who complete it are entered for door prizes...that stuff is in the bays and outside. Inside, we have a big display board with a display on the theme of the year...kitchen safety this year. We also have smaller displays on smoke detectors, EDITH, ICE for cell phones, CO, Halloween Fire Safety, Sprinkler Safety, Elderly fall and fire prevention, and a Hazard House we borrow from the Fire Marshal's Office. Adults can answer a few questions at each station for a chance to win door prizes.
I forgot one of the favorites that we do...we have a fiefighter dress in full gear, SCBA on air and go around talking with children and their families. He or she also hands out stickers or workbooks and talks to the families, especially the children about this is what a fiefighter looks like when they are fighting a fire...don't be afraid...go to the firefighter and don't hide, etc. It really helps to hand out something to get the kids to approach the fiefighter and not be afraid.
Thanks for all of the other ideas that were posted; I have more for our open hosue this year!
I hope children are not allowed to try on real fire helmets... There was a child (age 6) that fractured his neck when a firefighter's helmet shifted on his head. Story had a happy ending, but expensive liability results. Remember, that's a heavy piece of equipment for your neck to support. We also advise against air horn blasts and siren demonstrations during open house events due to the decibels produced by these devices.
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