As in years past, the Traverse City Fire Department recently visited elementary schools providing fire prevention information to young students. What makes this year's program different is that the department will soon be evaluated on the effectiveness of their program.
Traverse City Fire Department's elementary fire prevention program was one of 12 selected nationally to participate in a study conducted by the Center for Disease Control's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. As a recipient of grant funds from the United States Fire Administrators to be systematically evaluated to determine the impact on fire safety knowledge, skills and behaviors.
Prior to firefighter Keith Fritz's presentation including tips on smoke detectors, creating escape plans, calling for help and the stop-drop-and-roll technique, students at Central Grade School were given a pre-test Monday to access their fire safety knowledge.
A post-test followed the program to measure the effectiveness of instruction and will be followed in six-months to measure students retention of critical points.
"I think we have a good program but it will be interesting to see how we compare to other departments around the nation,” said Captain Tim Gies, of the Traverse City Fire Department.
"We will see if the program is really appropriate and how much the students are actually learning from it,” he said.
Gies hopes that the students, in grades one through three, will make good use of the information provided including creating a home escape plan and practicing that plan with their families on a regular basis.
Students were encouraged to draw a home escape plan and return it to their teacher for a chance to win a pizza party for their classroom. Those plans will be on display during the annual fire station open house to be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, at Station #1, located at 500 W. Front St.
Open house festivities will include rides on a 1936 fire truck, fire department demonstrations, home safety equipment displays, a kids agility course and free hot dogs. The public is invited to attend.