Firefighters present book to help students understand safety

JACKSON, Tenn. — Third grade students got a special visit Wednesday from the Jackson Fire Department for Fire Safety Month, which is October.

This year, there’s a new tool to help them learn.

“We decided to donate these books this year in conjunction with ‘Operation Stay Alive,'” Jackson Fire Marshal Lamar Childress said. “We had four tragic fire deaths this year, and we’re trying to prevent them as much as we can.”

The book, entitled “The Day the Fire Marshal Came to School,” was written by State Fire Marshal Gerald Trimmer. It’s aimed toward young kids.

“His inspiration for this book was the same as mine — to protect the children at a young age and teach them about fire prevention,” Childress said.

Teachers said it’s a great way to combine reading with life-saving advice.

“They will be able to relate it to what they do at home, and that will help them and help their parents and siblings when it comes down to a fire,” third grade teacher Virginia Davis said.

Childress said it’s important to make sure all windows can open and to keep space heaters at least three feet away from anything that can burn. Kids like Brooks Smith said they also learned to “Tell your mom and dad you need to check your smoke detectors.”

The book was donated to every third grade class in Madison County’s public and private schools and to the schools’ libraries.

“If you catch these kids at a young age, this information stays with them and they actually go back to their parents and they’ll tell them, ‘The fire department says we need to have working smoke detectors, we need to have a plan to get out,’ and the children can actually influence their parents at home as far as what they need to do in their house to stay safe,” Childress said.

The Jackson Fire Department along with many others in West Tennessee will come to your home and install a smoke detector for free. If you’d like more information about how you can get one installed, contact your local fire department.