Triton’s youngest students learn about fire prevention

This may officially be Fire Prevention Week but Triton Elementary students got an early look at fire equipment last week as firefighters from the Dodge Center and West Concord Departments visited with students in pre-kindergarten through second grade.

Though the presentations varied depending on the grade level, all of the youngsters got to take an up close and personal look at the Dodge Center Fire Department’s Ladder Truck.

For the pre-kindergarten students Dodge Center Firefighter Jason Fife explained the basic about what firefighters do and how they will come if there is a fire but also sometimes if someone is in an accident or sick.

On one of the days, Dodge Center Firefighters Jason Hayek and Ley Ortiz and West Concord Firefighter Keith Clammer, came along with Fife and showed the youngsters the firefighting gear they wear on a call and gave demonstrations of how the air tanks work and how they crawl along the ground or floor while searching for people in fires.

Then it was off to the ladder truck where Fife showed them the hoses, ladders and other equipment carried on the truck and then let each child walk through the cab of the truck.

They then lowered the 75-foot ladder mounted on the back of the truck to give the youngsters another look at the equipment.

As the firefighters progressed through the grade levels the presentation took on a different level of information.

By the time he got to the second grade students, who had already seen the equipment several times, Fife was talking more about prevention even telling the students he had some homework for them.

When the groans about homework subsided, Fife said that what he wanted them to do was check their homes for fire detectors. And then, he said, they needed to ask their parents if those detectors were more than 10 years old and if they were to tell their parents they need to be replaced.

A firefighter also needs to keep going to school, he said, explaining he was currently taking several classes and also teaching a class.

“I’m always going back to school,” he said.

After putting on his firefighting equipment, including the