| On Friday evening and Saturday throughout the day, the Christiana Fire Company hosted the annual Fire Experience Kids Camp. Every year after school lets out, children ages 5-14 of the Octorara School District are invited to participate in the two day event. This year, we hosted 70 students from the area.
The Friday evening camp consisted of a car fire demonstration and a school bus rescue. The kids got to see first hand how fire and EMS departments respond and mitigate these emergencies. Afterwards the children were given their camp t-shirts and parents had a chance to talk to the fire department about Saturday's schedule.
Saturday morning, camp started bright and early at 9 am. After all the kids reported to camp, they were broken down into groups of 10 so that each group could rotate through the seven different learning stations. Each group spent 20 minutes at each station, then rotated on to the next. This year the learning stations were:
1. Police finger printing and evidence collection - Ephrata Police Department brought there Crime Scene Investigation Unit out and showed the campers how they do fingerprinting and casting molds to obtain evidence off the ground. Then the kids got to do an interactive fingerprinting station!
2. Smoke Trailer - Once again, The Kennett Fire Company in Chester County allowed us to use their awesome fire prevention teaching trailer. In this high-tech trailer, students learned about how to evacuate their home, in the event of a fire incident.
3. Kitchen Safety - This station was also held in the Kennett Fire Company safety trailer. The groups learned first hand how to deal with a small kitchen fire in the trailers interactive kitchen.
4. Compressed Air Foam System Fire Attack - At this station, campers got to spray foam at a mock house using this advanced foam system on Cochranville's Rescue Truck.
5. Air powered Rescue Tool Demo - Campers at this station learned about how fire and rescue personnel use air driven tools to perform vehicle rescues. Parkesburg Rescue 28 used their tools for this demonstration.
5A. Hydraulic Rescue Tool Demo - The crew from Gap Fire used the Jaws of Life at this station, where campers could get an up close look at how rescue crews dismantle vehicles to free trapped occupants.
6. 911 Use and Emergency First Aid- At this station, campers reviewed 911 telephone calls in the event of an emergency, then got to learn about what to do if someone has a nosebleed. Christiana Ambulance presented this station.
7. Search and Rescue- Middle Creek Search and Rescue taught this station. Campers learned about what to do if they are ever lost in the wilderness or any emergency situation.
Once again, the 2008 camp was a huge success. We think its very important to teach fire and general safety to our younger community and this is a fun way to do it! Thanks to the Ephrata Borough Police Department for bringing their CSI Unit out for our community, and to Middle Creek Search and Rescue for coming down to teach with their equipment. We would like to thank the Kennett Fire Company for the use of their fire prevention unit again this year.
We would like to thank the neighboring fire companies that participated in the 2008 camp. They are Cochranville Fire Company, Parkesburg Fire Company & EMS, Gap Fire Company, Atglen Fire Company, and Christiana Ambulance. Also, thanks to the Pomeroy Fire Company for standing by with an Engine on Saturday, to cover any fire calls in the Christiana area during the camp hours.
We would like to thank the organizations that sponsored the 2008 camp. Our sponsors this year are Comcast Cable, Glick Fire Equipment, Keares Electric, Christiana Borough and several others. Thank you for your support!
Lastly, we need to thank the event organizers. Fire Chief Randy Buckwalter and Member Kim Moore are the driving force behind organizing the Kids Camp. Each year they spend weeks planning and organizing this event for the Octorara community. Thank you both! |
