Firemen to teach safety rules

By Kathy Thomson

Members of the Albany Volunteer Fire Department will be presenting fire safety information to local school children this Friday, Oct. 18 as part of National Fire Prevention Week.

“We will have two or three firefighters going to the elementary schools this year,” said fire chief Kyle Tischler. “I don’t know if Ember (the chief’s fire dog) will be going just yet, but we will be taking our big engines and rescue truck for the kids to look at.”

The VFD plans to be at Nancy Smith Elementary School at 9:00 a.m., and at the Moran school at 1:30 p.m.

Last week was National Fire Safety Week, and this year’s theme is “Not every hero wears a cape. Plan and Practice your Escape,” so the safety training will include various ways that children can help keep themselves safe in the event of a fire.   

“We will be going over all areas of fire safety with an emphasis on the fact that each child can be a super hero by learning and practicing fire safety and knowing how to report emergencies,” Tischler said. “We will also have a smoke detector and fire extinguisher to use in our class. These are inexpensive items that save lives every day and we hope to get this message out to the parents and grandparents of our community.”

Members of the Moran VFD also plan to be at the MISD fire prevention presentation.

“Our department believes that if we can prevent just one injury or fatality, it is well worth the time and money spent for this fire prevention program,” said the chief.