REGION MARKS FIRE PREVENTION WEEK

Despite fire prevention education and programming such as "Rescue 911" on television, one of the leading causes of house fires is children playing with matches.

According to the United States Fire Administration, children under the age of five are at serious risk of being killed in a fire almost twice as much as the rest of the population combined.

People under the age of 19 account for about 25 percent of the approximate 5,500 who die every year in fires.

Such figures are partly the reasoning behind the driving force by fire departments across the country directed primarily at young people during National Fire Prevention Week, Oct. 3-9.

This week, fire departments in Cape Girardeau, Jackson and across the country, will be stressing the need for not only proper procedures to follow during an actual fire, but also preventative techniques students can carry home with them.

This year's theme for national Fire Prevention Week is "Get Out! Stay Out. Your Fire Safe Response."

"We're really going to hammer on that this week," said Jackson Fire Chief Gary Niswonger. "The point is once you get out of a burning structure, never go back in again; that goes for adults, too."

To promote this year's theme in Cape Girardeau, fifth grade students from schools throughout the community designed and colored their own posters, illustrating the theme and fire safety techniques.

The posters will be judged by the Cape Girardeau Fire Department, and winners will receive special prizes and a ride around town in the city's 110-foot ladder truck.

"The posters are a real good test of what the fifth graders began hearing in pre-school and kindergarten," said safety officer Mike Morgan, coordinator of the poster contest. "We see more and more pictures of people crawling low, getting outside and far away from a burning building and other things we've been telling them for years."

The poster contest started four years ago, but it was not until about two years ago that all the local schools began participating.

"The fifth grade is a good age-group to gauge their fire-prevention knowledge," said Morgan. "They are at that age when they are making safety decisions and are able to digest all the information they've been handed over the years."

In Jackson, pre-school and kindergarten children will be treated to tours of the city's fire complex beginning Friday and spanning the week.

Niswonger said the department has received a new instructional video well-suited to young people, that the children should enjoy.

After the video, children will be led on a tour of the living quarters of the firemen, as well as the six trucks and utility vehicles crammed in the bays of the firehouse.

The smaller children will get fire safety tips from "Matchless Marvin," a firefighter-handpuppet which catches the children's attention while his "master" disseminates the information.

"The little kids really get a kick out of Marvin," Niswonger said. "I'm no ventriloquist, but it doesn't seem to bother them they're all excited about just being here."

Children in both cities will be given colorful handouts, pamphlets, coloring books and "Junior Firefighter" sticker badges to wear on their shirts or jackets.

The departments encourage the children to take the information home to share with their parents, hoping to promote fire safety in the home.

Other programs the Cape Girardeau Fire Department is hosting include a 5 kilometer marathon beginning at Arena Park at 8 a.m. today, public tours of all fire stations from 1-4 p.m. today, a "Kids Club" at West Park Mall at 11 a.m. Wednesday, and the annual Smoke Detector Day on Saturday to wrap the week up.

In addition to lectures and fun activities, firefighters throughout the region will be visiting area schools, overseeing the efficiency and order of fire drills. Each school and some area employers will have fire drills which will be timed and evaluated by the firefighters.

Fire drills are designed to "train" students and employees of large corporations proper exit techniques and procedures when a fire alarm sounds in the building.

"We preach fire prevention year round, but this is our week when we push harder than any other time of the year," Niswonger said. "It's through education and practice that people become aware of fire hazards and how to react to actual situations; that's what we're trying to instill."

Cape Girardeau Fire Chief Robert L. Ridgeway added: "The intention of Fire Prevention Week is to generate an awareness and concern about fires and burns so that behaviors and attitudes may be changed. Fire prevention is a protective program that serves to make lives safety by averting the tragedy of serious injury or death, or the loss of property."

Morgan finished: "If we reach just one child this week, it's all worth it."