Fire Safety Week
a visit from the Goldens Bridge Fire Department
Amanda Lisk’s first grade class eagerly gathered around the gleaming red trucks from the Goldens Bridge Fire Department which were parked in front of their school. They were super excited because they knew that their classmate Ainsley’s dad was one of the firefighters!
Fire Safety Week at Increase Miller Elementary School takes a potentially scary subject and wraps it in a safety net. Principal Kerry Ford said that she loves how students learn important fire safety information from their family friends or neighbors. “It’s an exciting visit that is also very impactful,” she said.
all in the family
Commissioner Simoncini, an IMES grad
set a family meeting spot
Joe Simoncini, one of the commissioners of the Goldens Bridge Fire Department, has been visiting IMES for Fire Safety Week for approximately 20 years. His connection to the school goes back even longer. Commissioner Simoncini was a member of the elementary school’s first graduating class, in 1974. His children and grandchildren went to IMES, too. What does he love about coming back, year after year? “It’s a commitment to the community,” he said.
“If your smoke detector’s alarm goes off, or if you smell smoke or see a fire, what should you do?” Commissioner Simoncini asked the students. “Leave,” he said. He stressed the importance of each family determining their outdoor meeting place. “It can be a tree or driveway. This way, when we arrive, we know that everyone is safe.”
Students see what community looks like
Lieutenant Douglas Orlovitz, who graduated from IMES in 2009, showed the students the department’s tanker truck, which carries 3,500 gallons of water. Goldens Bridge Fire Department’s community relations manager Steve Mangione, whose daughter Amanda Mangione teaches at IMES, distributed fire department gift bags to the students.
“As Mr. Townsend put on his full fire suite, he no longer was just Ainsley's dad he was now Firefighter Townsend!” said Lisk. “Students learned not to be scared of firefighters when they are in their gear as they are there to save you from fire.”
