North Brunswick parents have homework tonight: make sure all smoke detectors work, change their batteries, discuss a safety evacuation plan and practice evacuating the home with your children.
PHOTOS BY ERIC SUCAR staff Left: Capt. Tim Morley, of the North Brunswick Fire Marshal’s Office, displays his safety attire to students at John Adams Elementary School on Oct. 21. Right: Kindergartner Cynthia Ramirez (center) and her classmates listen to the fire safety assembly. Such is the message stressed by township fire marshals Craig Snediker and Tim Morley during their presentations this month at local elementary schools and preschools.
In honor of Fire Prevention Month, the fire marshals visited John Adams Elementary School on Oct. 21 to discuss important safety tips with students from pre-K through fifth grade.
First, the brief video “Sparky Says: Join My Fire Safety Club,” from the National Fire Protection Association, was shown. In the video, the children are taught to use their four senses to stay safe by listening for a smoke alarm, touching a door to see if it’s hot before opening, looking to find the safest way out and smelling for smoke.
Sparky and Firefighter Joe tell kids to stop, drop and roll if their clothes catch fire, to put cold running water on a burn, to never go back inside a burning building for any reason, to stay away from anything that can cause a burn and to ask an adult to put away lighters and matches.
To elaborate upon those issues, Snediker explained that smoke alarms must be checked to ensure proper working order, and that the batteries should be changed twice each year, preferably when the clocks are changed in the fall and spring to make it easier to remember.
He also stressed that families should create an evacuation plan, establishing a place to meet so that family members stay together and so that firefighters can determine if everyone is out safely. He said these drills should be practiced at home just like fire drills are practiced in school.
In addition, Morley showed the students what a firefighter’s uniform looks like because kids tend to get scared by the image of a firefighter.
Students at John Adams Elementary School took a tour of a North Brunswick Volunteer Fire Company No. 3 fire truck during the presentation. “We don’t want you to be scared of us … we want you to be comfortable with how we look,” the North Brunswick Volunteer Fire Co. No. 3 captain said. “We don’t want you hiding under your beds, hiding in closets — we want you making a lot of noise saying, ‘I’m here! I’m here!,’ so we can find you.”
Morley put on his uniform: his boots/pants combination, protective hood, radio, all-season coat, air tank, mask, helmet and gloves.
He snapped the air hose to the breathing apparatus covering his mouth and showed the students how firemen enter a burning building.
“We get down low because where does smoke go? Smoke goes up,” Morley said as he crawled across the John Adams cafeteria stage.
Afterward, Snediker and Morley brought the students outside to see an actual working fire truck. Morley displayed a saw that cuts through metal, concrete and wood; an ax with a Halligan bar to pry open doors or windows or to cut a hole in a roof; a fire extinguisher for small fires; different hoses; a ladder that comes off the side of the truck with the press of a button; a basket attached to the ladder that aids in rescues; big fans used to blow smoke out of houses; padding to clean up automobile accidents and oil leaks; spare air tanks; levers to get the water pumping; and the seats where the driver and firefighters sit.
Contact Jennifer Amato at