Children will learn fire safety
measures at county facility
The Middlesex County Fire Training Academy will soon be the site of a fire safety house — a mobile trailer equipped with a wide range of training features to teach children escape methods when trapped at home during a fire.
"Some fire academies have a fire safety house, but we will be the only one in New Jersey to have the combination sprinkler-fire safety house," Fire Marshal Michael Gallagher said. Gallagher and the 50 part-time fire instructors at the academy in Sayreville will be trained to operate the safety house when it arrives next spring. The instructors will teach children hands-on techniques on the ways to escape a fire when inside a home.
The sprinkler feature will be located in a protected area in the back of the trailer, and visitors will be able to watch as an actual fire is both started and extinguished with a state-of-the-art sprinkler system.
"People can see how a fire can start, and see how the sprinkler head would activate and put out a fire," Gallagher explained.
When completed, the fire safety house, which is now under bid for $58,000, will be divided into a number of rooms, including a control panel room where a fire instructor will be stationed during each demonstration.
As children walk through the trailer with fire instructors, they will learn how to operate a 911 telephone system, which will be installed in the building. Children will learn firsthand how to safely evacuate a building during a fire through the use of a smoke machine, which will fill the trailer with environmentally safe smoke.
The trailer will also feature a wheelchair ramp and a smoke detector for the hearing impaired, which will light up and emit warning sounds when activated by smoke.
A simulated hurricane will also take place during the demonstration, Gallagher explained. The window blinds will shake as a hurricane warning is transmitted from a radio, allowing children to gain even more knowledge on how to protect themselves from the scourges of Mother Nature.
"It’s definitely going to be fun for the kids," Gallagher said. "We’re going to target all ages — even adults."