A group of home-schooled children who had never seen the inside of a fire station before got an up close and personal tour of the Muscatine Fire Department’s Station 2 on Saturday.

Amy and Alex Lambert worked with Lieutenant Jason Verschoore and the Muscatine Fire Department’s Public Education Department to organize a tour of Station 2 so their four children, Barrett, Corbin, Max and Henry, could learn more about the fire department.

The day began with a discussion on fire protection.

“We talked about fire safety in the home, including how to call 9-1-1 and what information to provide when calling,” Lt. Verschoore said.

Also discussed was the need for a meeting place outside the home in case of a family emergency and that once outside, one should never go back into the house to get pets, toys, etc. The final topic was closing the bedroom door while sleeping for fire safety reasons.

Research has shown that keeping your bedroom door closed prevents a fire from spreading by restricting oxygen and lowering the temperature. It also helps reduce the amount of toxic smoke and mitigates smoke damage. It could even save lives.

“We ended the day with a tour of the station, which of course included the ‘cool’ trucks,” said Lt. Verschoore.

Another safety tip is to make sure you have working smoke alarms in every bedroom and on every floor of your home. In the event of a fire, this will help alert family members immediately. If the smoke alarm goes off, you may not know where the fire is, so it is important to have a plan with escape routes from each room and a meeting point for family members outside the home. Families are encouraged to create an escape plan and practice it with everyone living in the home.

The Muscatine Fire Department provides public education on several levels. Firefighters teach adult fire safety classes in industrial and healthcare facilities upon request. Elementary schools offer fire safety classes for third, fourth and fifth graders throughout the school year. Preschoolers and children in grades K-2 can come to the public safety building for tours, featuring Freddie the fire truck singing, dancing and fire safety lessons. Each elementary school student receives monthly lesson plans on fire safety, taught by the classroom teacher or sent home for parent involvement.

For more information on booking a tour of the Muscatine Fire Department and/or a safety talk with a firefighter for homeschooled students, please call the Muscatine Fire Department at 563-263-9233.

The Department is always willing to cooperate with the public on special fire protection projects as time and circumstances permit.

The Department of Public Education is led by Battalion Commander Ted Hillard ([email protected]).