FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. — The Fort Leonard Wood Fire Department hosted Fire Fest Saturday in the Exchange parking lot, providing area firefighters an opportunity to discuss fire safety with the local community in a fun, family friendly environment.
As a lead-up event to Fire Prevention Week — which, this year, takes place from Oct. 8 to 14 — Fire Fest attendees could meet firefighters, see fire trucks, tour the fire safety trailer and meet Sparky the Fire Dog. Additionally, games and bounce houses were available, area colleges and universities were on hand providing information, and the 399th Army Band performed a set of rock music.
According to Fort Leonard Wood Assistant Fire Chief Kevin Curtis, Fire Fest had “something for everybody.”
“We want the community to see us out there and give us a chance to help them understand fire safety and have some fun at the same time,” Curtis said.
One of the new elements to Fire Fest this year was a car show put on by members of Wood’s MotorSports Club, and attendees could vote on their favorites. Of the 14 entries, winners this year included Ken Roxberry and his Plymouth Road Runner in the People’s Choice and Fireman’s Choice divisions. Jerry Pope and his ‘70s Chevy truck won the Commander’s Choice division.
“It’s totally awesome,” Curtis said. “(The car club) already requested to come back next year.”
Pointing out to two of his battle buddies some of the equipment in one of the fire trucks at the event was Pfc. Logan Reck, a motor vehicle operator trainee with the 58th Transportation Battalion, who graduates advanced individual training this week.
A National Guard member from Wentworth, South Dakota, Reck is also a volunteer firefighter back home.
“We’re a pretty small, rural department — not too big,” Reck said. “The town that we’re in has about 200 people.”
Reck said his town does something similar to Fire Fest each year.
“We have this thing, it’s called National Night Out,” he said. “It’s when all the first responder departments in our county get together one night out of the year. We get all the fire trucks, ambulance, dive team, sheriff’s department, stuff like that — everybody gets together. It’s a great thing for the community to come together in one place and talk to the people who are out there keeping them safe, putting out fires. I think stuff like this is great just to spread the word. Fire prevention is a good thing to learn, whether you’re really small or really tall, old, young — it doesn’t matter. It’s something great to learn. And getting to see the faces out there doing the job and keeping you safe is great for the community.”
With this year’s prevention theme focused on cooking safety, Curtis noted the leading cause of fires in the kitchen is unattended cooking, and he cited a National Fire Protection Association estimation, which stated fire departments across the country annually respond to about 170,000 home fires caused by cooking. These fires caused an estimated 135 deaths, 3,000 injuries and more than $494 million in property loss.
“We always stress cooking safety when we go out to the community,” Curtis said. “By following a few safety tips, you can prevent these fires.”
Curtis’ tips included:
- be alert — if you are sleepy or have consumed alcohol, don’t use the stove or stovetop;
- stay in the kitchen while you are frying, grilling, boiling or broiling food.,
- if you are simmering, baking or roasting food, check it regularly, remain in the kitchen while food is cooking, and use a timer to remind yourself that you are cooking;
- keep anything that can catch fire, including oven mitts, wooden utensils, food packaging, towels or curtains, away from the stovetop; and
- have a child-free zone of at least three feet around the stove and areas where hot food or drink is prepared or carried.
Curtis added if a cooking fire starts:
- get out, and close the door when leaving to help contain the fire;
- call 9-1-1 or the local emergency number after leaving;
- if you try to fight the fire, be sure others are getting out and you have a clear way out;
- keep a lid nearby when cooking to smother small grease fires, and smother the fire by sliding the lid over the pan and turn off the stovetop — leave the pan covered until it is completely cooled; and
- for an oven fire, turn off the heat and keep the door closed.
During Fire Prevention Week next week, Curtis said firefighters will visit area schools and on-post child development centers to help build a fire safety mindset in children — one common teaching method they use is a puppet show, complete with catchy songs.
“It’s about fire safety,” Curtis said. “If you see smoke, get to your safe area. We include stop, drop and roll, and we get Sparky involved. For firefighters, after we do these shows a number of times, we start singing the songs every day.”
For more information on fire safety, call the Fort Leonard Wood Fire Department at 573.596.0886.
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