Mayor Kelly Willis presented a Certificate of Appreciation to the Snowflake Fire Department from the Snowflake-Taylor Chamber of Commerce Oct. 11 for participation in the third annual Community Preparedness Fair. Assistant Fire Chief Dale Call was on hand to accept the award.
Call explained to the council that they usually send a representative to different communities taking the fire safety trailer.
“Mostly children and teenagers come through the safety trailer,” said Call.
“We have a smoke machine that smokes the trailer up and kids can see what it’s like, and then they exit the trailer,” he said. The trailer teaches home safety, and also has a weather feature that simulates tornados and thunderstorms.
“You may remember fire alarm drills,” said Call. “Sometimes kids get in a rut when the alarm goes off, so we like to disrupt that pattern.” He explained that kids have been instructed when the fire alarm goes off to take a hallway and go to the nearest exit. Kids are also told not to go through smoke, so the SFD will pick a hallway and smoke it to see if the students are going to follow their old habits, or revert to an alternate plan and find a secondary exit. Then they will discuss the results of the fire drill with students.
