The MySafe:LA Team is visiting a number of public schools during the spring to share the importance of key fire and life safety messages with teachers and students. Each visit is carefully coordinated to provide the best possible input, while ensuring the classroom structure is not disrupted. In a quick 60-minutes, students go an an important, fun, and informative journey - and all of it in the name of safety. For the initial pilot program, fourth grade students are taught about family escape plans, the the importance of dialing 9-1-1, and how to use a fire extinguisher.

View the expanding list of LAFD certified companies: Click here.

Interactive Media Session:

The adventure begins in the school auditorium.  A MySafe:LA instructor and a Los Angeles Fire Department Company Commander (Captain) introduce themselves to the kids. A six minute safety video is then shown, demonstrating the importance of a family escape plan and how to practice it. After the video has been completed, the Captain tests the children orally to see what their retention level is. Typically, this involves a five minute question and answer period. 

The Captain then introduces two members of his crew. Each is in their work uniform. The kids are split into two groups. A stop watch is used and the two firefighters race to see who can suit up in their personal protective equipment (PPEs) first. To do so involves not only boots, pants, and jacket, but gloves, face protection, SCBA (breathing bottle), face-piece, helmet, and gloves. A firefighter wearing this equipment can look and sound very scary. The firefighters, being cheered on by the students, then mingle with their teams, crawling in between the rows of kids and letting them touch their turnout gear. 

The room is then made to be very quiet, and the students can hear how the firefighters breath and what they sound like when they are using their air bottles. This routine is done to help overcome the possible fear a child might have when firefighters respond to their home. 

The firefighters than lead the children out of the auditorium to the playground. This may seem simplistic, but in reality, the children are learning to take directions from suited up firefighters. 

Interactive Fire Prevention Session:

The children circulate between multiple workstations in the playground. The 60-minute drill includes three stations:

• Rescue Ambulance and Fire Engine tour*
• Personal Protective Equipment Demo
• Fire Hose Use Drill

The 90-minute session adds an additional station for:

• Stop, Drop, and Roll
• Get Low and Go!

Los Angeles firefighters supervise each station and children are given the chance to see a real fire extinguished, learn how to use a fire hose to reach a target cone and move it, and discover how heavy firefighter equipment can be. These routines prepare them for the education materials they'll begin to use in the classroom once the visit from the LAFD and MySafe:LA has been completed.

Getting Online:

The photos from the day are uploaded into a gallery within MySafe:LA. The teacher is then given the information to get online and the children and their families may then visit the MySafe:LA website, discover the learning center, and download the photo of the children for use by the family as a reminder of the fun, but informative experience. 

Separately, the teacher is given a complete MySafe:LA learning system. It includes a Teacher's Guide, developed by the Home Safety Council. This guide combines teaching fire safety with literacy. There are three books for students, including escape planning, smoke detectors, and how to get out of the house. Children and see the illustrations, but they will also learn how to read while going through the books. 

In addition to the the books, there are a series of exercises, including mazes, word games, and other elements that help teach children about fire safety. The teacher will also give the children a series of materials to take home, so they can quiz their parents, create an escape plan, fill out an emergency phone listing, and much more. All in all, there are several dozen routines to go through. 

Once the teacher has shared the information given to the class by MySafe:LA, they may go online and in the education center, review what they've learned and take online quiz and test courses to measure their retention levels. Teachers can modify the course content for their use and may communicate with both MySafe:LA instructors and other teachers. 

SPECIAL: Check out the Valley View Elementary School Video!

Next Steps:

The Pilot Program conducted this past spring proved to be a tremendous success. Our Hollywood and Silverlake area schools were terrific hosts and our program reached more than 400 students. In addition, approximately 200 kids from the Hollywood Boys and Girls Club went through our program, and in addition, received tours of Fire Station 27 and the LAFD Museum and Memorial. 

A new fall School Visit Schedule will be available on September 30, 2009. 

If you're interested in having MySafe:LA visit your school, please contact our education team. You can get their information from the contact section of the website.

* Due to the current financial crisis in Los Angeles, LAFD resources must remain "available" to ensure the best possible response time to any emergency. As a result, a tour of LAFD apparatus may be interrupted by an emergency call. Whenever possible, the ambulance or fire engine will return to your school to continue the tour as quickly as possible.