What is the best part of a firefighter’s year?

What is the best part of a firefighter’s year?
Students crack up at the antics of Sparky the Fire Dog.

ROCK SPRINGS – Ask any of the students in Sweetwater County School District No. 1 what their favorite assembly is during the school year and Sparky and the Rock Springs Fire Department will be a common response. What many residents may not know, is that for the firefighters it is also on top of their lists.

Check out a Facebook Gallery from the presentation

For one week the RSFD travels to all the local elementary schools to teach fire safety. The crew puts on two shows a day for the entire week, giving young students the tools and knowledge to remain safe from fire.

Rock Springs Firefighters Amy Taylor, Steve Casey and Darnell Corbin sat down and talked about the assemblies from their experience. They explained the assembly teaches kids about checking smoke detectors, having an evacuation plan including a meeting place for the family, crawling low under smoke and other fire safety techniques and plans.

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This year’s theme was focused on kitchen safety. Taylor explained they focused on things like how close a child should be to a stove when food is cooking and how long food on a stove should be left unattended while cooking.

Despite the inclusion of fun and games for the students, you can hear parents talking about how their young one came home ready to put the message into action.

Casey said they really focus on the students taking home what they have learned.

“We want them to tell their parents what they have learned.” Casey said with he hopes those families would start acting on their child’s messages.

Taylor explained she was talking to one parent who said she burnt something in the oven and her child grabbed a younger sibling, crawled under the smoke and ended up in the family meeting spot.

“If we are able to save a life by doing this, it makes it all worth it,” Taylor said.

Another big message these assemblies focus on is how accessible firefighters are. When many young children see fire trucks, lights and sirens, it often means something bad is happening. Taylor said they want to children to know not to hide from firefighters, especially when they may be looking for them. That is a message they said parents can really help with.

While the assembly carries an important message, the firefighters said it is really fun to see the excitement the young students bring to the room. Many firefighters said it is a challenge to keep the students from swinging from the lights but lack of excitement is never a problem.

Both Casey and Taylor said it is one thing they look forward to doing every year and although it is a lot of time and work they cannot wait until fire safety week is here again.

For firefighter Corbin, this was his first fire safety week and he was not disappointed one bit. He said it was so much fun to see the excitement in the students and to see how much they really loved the assembly.

“I am looking forward to doing it next year,” Corbin exclaimed.