County Fire Dept Offers Tours, Education for Fire Prevention Week

The Douglas County Fire Department will celebrate Fire Prevention Week October 6 through October 12, 2013, with numerous fire and life safety education programs throughout the county.

Although the official observance begins on Sunday, the fire department kicked off their fire prevention week observance early, starting with fire station tours on October 1. Continuing throughout the month, there will be more station tours, fire safety house demonstrations, Community Helpers and Friendly Firefighter programs, school Career Day programs and fire extinguisher training classes for area residents, as well as fire safety programs for senior adults.

The Douglas County Fire Department has a very active Fire Safety Education and Prevention program, under the direction of Chief Scott Spencer, and the staff of the Fire Marshal’s office, including Fire Marshal Scott Bishop, and public fire and life safety educators Thomas Furr and Sherri Yearta.  The staff delivers fire safety education throughout Douglas County all year, but their busiest time is always during October when Fire Prevention Week is celebrated nationally by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).

The official kick-off for Fire Prevention Week will be at Home Depot in Douglasville on Saturday, Oct. 5, in conjunction with the store’s monthly children’s workshop. Last year’s kick-off was held at the Lithia Springs Home Depot and had a great turnout. The children who attend the store workshop will have an opportunity to tour the fire safety house and learn by hands-on teaching how to escape their home in the event of a fire.  Other fire apparatus will also be available for citizens to see. The Fire Safety House will be conducting demonstrations between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Also this year, the Douglas County Fire Department is providing a copy of a cute and educational story book Sparky the Fire Dog to local elementary school media centers and Douglas County’s public libraries.  Chief Scott Spencer and Sparky recently visited the Media Center at Mason Creek Elementary School and read the story to a kindergarten class and then presented the book to the school’s Media Center Director, Diereshe Collins, for the students to enjoy.  Additional copies of the book were delivered to the Board of Education for distribution to the other elementary school media centers.

If you are interested in scheduling a fire safety education program for your school, civic group or other organization, you may contact the education division of the Douglas County Fire Department at 770-920-7484. Although the schedule for October is full, the department provides fire safety education classes year round.