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MANSFIELD: Firefighters teach kids to stay safe

By Amy Batista, Special Writer
MANSFIELD — Students at the elementary school were visited Friday by the local Fire Department that provided some fire safety tips in honor of Fire Prevention Month.
The message of this year’s week — working smoke alarms save lives — encourages children and adults alike to implement behaviors that prevent fires and strategies to use in the event of a fire.
Students spent time with firefighters and an EMT, who discussed the various tools used to cut through the roofs and windshields of cars in a motor vehicle accident, what they did at a fire scene, the gear they wear, their roles and more.
"Everybody who sits in that jump seat in there each one has a specific job," said firefighter Ernie Boegly, adding the job is specific to whatever seat he is in.
One guy’s job is the nozzle and another guy’s job is the forcible entry tool, which is the halogen and the axe, he said.
"They estimate is 21 guys or girls (needed) to actually effectively to put out a fire," he said.
A student during each round was selected to wear a suit of turnout gear during the presentation.
Tommy Hoppie, 8, of Columbus, had the opportunity to try on the gear and described it as "hot."
That was the highlight of the presentation for him.
Third-grader Caitlin Fleming also wore the turnout gear.
"It felt pretty cool," Caitlin said.
Firefighter Joe VanMater explained to students the various parts of the turnout gear, starting with the boot, bunkers, bunker coat and helmet.
"This is the gear we wear, no matter what kind of call we are going on," Mr. VanMater said. "It’s not fire proof; it’s fire resistant, which means, at some point, this stuff will catch on fire."
He asked students if any of them knew how hot a fire gets. The answer was 1,901 degrees, he said.
"Does anybody know why this is on the back of a helmet?" he said, pointing to the brim on the helmet.
He said it was there to keep hot water from dripping down a firefighter’s neck when water is directed toward a ceiling, he said.
"Firefighters gear and their SCBA (self-contained breathing apparatus) are all stuff to protect them," Mr. Boegly said. "In the SCBA, there is something called a PASS (personal alert safety system) device."
When a firefighter gets in trouble, he can push the button, and it makes an obnoxious sound. Or if he becomes trapped, if something falls on him or he is stuck and can’t move after 30 seconds or less, it starts to make noise by itself, he said.
"That alerts other firefighters in the building that there is a firefighter in trouble as we go in search of that noise," he said as he demonstrated it for the students.
He said a typical bottle of air, which holds 4,500 pounds of air, lasts 30 minutes.
"The heat takes its toll on you, and that is making you breathe harder," he said.
"It’s not oxygen. It’s the air that you are breathing right now except that it’s very high pressured," Mr. VanMater said.
Mr. Boegly held up another one of their tools, a chainsaw, for the students to see.
"They are not for cutting down trees although we can," he said. "These are for ventilation. Ventilation is what we do to let hot gases and smoke out of a building."
He said people look at firemen and say all they do is cut holes and break windows.
"Well, there is a reason we do that," he said. "When we send firefighters inside a structure, whether it’s a building or a house, all the hot gases and smoke are inside that house. The hotter it gets and the darker the smoke gets, once the heat builds up to a certain point, everything catches fire in the room so we usually have somebody on the roof or breaking a window at the same time we go in to let all the hot gases and bad smoke out so that we don’t get hurt when we go in."
He said they just make a small 4-square-foot hole, enough to allow all that hot air and gas to escape.
Students asked about the pipe pole on the truck.
"This thing here is what we use to pull ceilings and wall," he said. "A lot of times the fire gets up in the ceiling or the wall" so firefighters poke through a wall or ceiling with the pole, then the hook at the end grabs it so they can pull the wall or ceiling down, he said.
Mr. VanMater reminded students to keep their rooms clean so they could maneuver around better if there was a fire in their house.
"And don’t leave things on the steps," Mr. Boegly. "We have to feel around, and we can’t see a thing. Sometimes, I have been in fires where I can put my hand almost on my mask, and I can’t see. That’s how smoky it can get."
He asked the students what do they should do when there is smoke in their house.
"You get down and crawl to an exit," one student said.
"Where does smoke go?" Mr. VanMater asked.
"It rises," they responded.
Mr. Boegly reminded students to remember at least two ways out and to practice fire drills at home.
After visiting the firetruck outside, students came inside to the cafeteria where they listened to Douglas Borgstrom, president of the Franklin Fire Company No. 1, talk about fire safety and the importance of working smoke detectors.
"These little things that live on our ceilings in our houses are working seven days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and they ask for very little," Mr. Borgstrom said. "Batteries once in a while; every six months."
He gave the students a homework assignment to figure out what kind of smoke detector they had so they know what kind of battery it uses.
"These things can save your life," he said.
In addition, he reminded the students to have an exit plan.
"You need to get out," he said. "You need to go to a place so everyone can be accounted for, and the Fire Department can be told by whoever is in charge that everyone is out, and that everyone is OK."