This year marks the third year of our public education program. The first year, we started the program half way through the school year just to get our feet wet and adjust as needed. The second year ran smoothly, andthis year went very well with even fewer wrinkles.We added a few things of our own this year in addition to completing the whole program.Throughout the year, we attended each of the 12 second-grade classes in our district (six at Woodmen Hills Elementary, three at Falcon Elementary and three at Meridian Ranch) and discussed ways to prevent different types of common injuries. We obtained our curriculum from the National Fire Academy. Their program is based on NFPA (national fire protection agency) guidelines, which is responsible for all of the guidelines that all firefighters in the North American region follow. You might say they are the creators of the firefighter bible.Each month throughout the year, we discussed a different topic:motor vehicle safety in September; fire safety in October; choking, suffocation and strangulation prevention in November; poison prevention in December; falls prevention in January; firearms injury prevention in February; and just recently, we finished bike safety by holding our Bike Safety Rodeo in April and May (water safety was also discussed in April).Each of our three full-time crews was assigned three to four classes – about 30 to 40 minutes long – to teach the subjects. The firefighters tested the kids on what they learned, and students with the best grades win a ride on the fire engine to his or her last day of classes.These lucky students won the fire engine ride: Ty Murphy, Emily Stringer, Gage Mathews.Meridian Ranch Elementary winners:Brett Miller, Ashlyn Lockwood, and Mimi SweetenWoodmen Hills Elementary winners: Jacob Tummons, Trevor Keene, Michelle Manning, Cory Haberkorn, Miranda Morales, and Jordan Mcquesten
