Competition inspires middle school students to think about fire safety – San Diego County News Center

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Students at a local middle school are helping their families prepare for an emergency by creating escape plans in the event of a home fire.

Borrego Springs Middle School students created these plans as part of a competition and shared them at a recent safety resource fair. This is a pilot program created by the San Diego County Fire Department through a state emergency preparedness grant.

The competition coincided with Wildfire Awareness Month as well as National Electrical Safety Month, both in May, but the timing is even more important as summer school holidays approach, when children may be at home more, sometimes alone.

“Learning fire safety and making escape plans could save a life. These students better understand the importance of preparing for a disaster and have been empowered to take responsibility for themselves and their families,” said Teresa Greenhalgh, Community Emergency Response Team Coordinator ( CERT) for county fires.

County fire personnel visited the school in early May to kick off the program, talk about careers in the fire service, home fire safety tips and, of course, competition rules. The plans were to include a detailed floor plan of the home showing the location of smoke detectors, two escape routes from each room, and a destination located a safe distance outside the home for the family to may be found after evacuation. A panel of community partners and County Fire selected the winners.

County firefighters and partners, including the San Diego Sheriff's Department, County Office of Emergency Services, County Library, LiveWell San Diego, SDG&E, American Red Cross and CAL FIRE, visited the school on May 28 to present the prizes and organize a ceremony. interactive security exhibition.

Skill stations included manual CPR, fire extinguisher safety using a fire simulator, electrical and kitchen hazard safety, and SDG&E's electrical safety demonstration. Students who completed the entire training earned a fire blanket.

Nearly 80 students participated in the competition. Each received a starter bag containing supplies to use if they needed to evacuate in the event of a fire or other emergency, including a Listos disaster preparedness guide, a flashlight, a first aid kit and a blanket. emergency. Contest winners received a family-sized four-person travel bag that included these items and an emergency AM/FM radio/flashlight, camping lanterns, extra batteries, personal hygiene items, plates and utensils. Those honored for their outstanding projects were seventh grader Mateo Garcia and sixth grader Gael Fuentes.

The program and awards were funded by the Listos California CERT Support Grant from the Governor's Office of Emergency Services to help prepare residents for an emergency or disaster.

For more local resources, visit San Diego County Fire and AlertSanDiego.