Throughout the month of October, the Monmouth Fire Department has visited local schools, apartment complexes, and businesses to spread fire safety awareness in educating families, students, and the local community members during Fire Prevention Month. Assistant Chief Pat Spears and Chief Casey Rexroat share their main focus is teaching fire safety in the home:
“We talk about fire safety in the home, crawl low under smoke and have a meeting place. We want them to have a meeting place outside where everybody in the family knows they are going to one spot to meet up, so that way when we show up and talk to mom and dad or we talk to an older brother or sister, they can say yes, everybody is here at our spot and we know that everybody is out of the house. Also, know two ways out of your house. Then we show the kids what we look like in our gear so they are not scared of us because it can be a little scary when we get all of our gear on and our air packs and sound a little different when we are breathing,” Spears says.
“We encourage kids to even know how to unlock their window and open their window with their eyes closed because it might be smokey or dark in their room, maybe they can’t find a light switch or something, but you want to at least make sure they can get to a window, get that window open, and signal for safety,” states Chief Rexroat.
The 2023 Fire Prevention Month campaign is “Cooking Safety Starts with You.”
