Smith Valley students get an education from local firefighters

National Fire Prevention Week is heating up the issue of safety in schools around the Flathead Valley.

Smith Valley School students learned about fire safety and search-and-rescue techniques from volunteer firefighters on Wednesday.

Firefighters Josh Patten of Smith Valley Fire Department and Brian Carter of South Kalispell Fire Department visited the school wearing basic protective gear, which included special boots, helmets and the familiar retroreflective yellow-striped pants and jackets.

One of the important reasons firefighters visit schools dressed in protective gear is to increase familiarity with how they look.

 In addition to basic gear, Carter put on a mask, or self-contained breathing apparatus, which was attached to an air tank. This was more of an unfamiliar look.

“The mask he wears seals off his face,” Patten said.

While Carter geared up, Patten showed students a few tools firefighters use to gain access throughout a burning building. He also talked about the importance of practicing an emergency evacuation route at home and other fire safety tips.

“Are you guys going to go back in for your pets?” Patten asked. He was answered with a resounding “no.”

Once Carter was fully suited up, the air tank on his back pushed air into the mask making hollow, Darth Vader-like sounds.  

“He looks pretty scary, doesn’t he?” Patten said. “He sounds pretty funny, too.”

Smith Valley Principal Laili Komenda asked students what he sounded like when he talked. One student said a robot, another suggested an alien.

“So this is something to remember if you did have a fire in your house; it wouldn’t sound like a real person, it would sound more like a robot,” Komenda said.

Carter then walked up to students so they could get a closer look. At first, younger students scooted away as he approached, before warming up to him when he shook their hands and talked with them.

Patten told students in a fire search-and-rescue situation, there might be several firefighters wearing the same gear as Carter and reminded students not to hide in their closet or under the bed.

Patten advised students to also yell for help if trapped in a burning building because firefighters have limited visibility.

Patten demonstrated this with fifth-grader Hunter Baier. Baier hid in the gym and the lights were turned out. Baier yelled for help as Carter searched. During the search, Baier said it was difficult to hear where Carter was, so he kept yelling until he was found.

Before the assembly, students practiced an evacuation route from the school to the Smith Valley Grange Hall. Crossing guards led the group safely across U.S. 2 to the grange hall. Normally, students evacuate just outside of the school into a parking lot. Komenda said this is the route they would use if it weren’t safe to be near, or return to the school. She added that they practice this route once a year, weather permitting. Patten referred to the longer evacuation route as a “safe zone.”

“It gets them away from buildings, gets them away from propane tanks and gets them away from [fire] trucks,” Patten said.

West Valley School also held a fire prevention assembly Tuesday with the West Valley volunteer firefighters. In addition to talking about fire safety, rescue techniques and tools, firefighters lit a small camper and wooden crate on fire and extinguished it, demonstrating how quickly fire spreads.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.