Fire Prevention Teaches Children Not to Burn

Putnam Assistant Commissioner of Emergency Services and past Patterson FD Chief Adam Stiebeling teaches children about equipment used by firefighters throughout the region including this Rotary Saw-Partner saw. Boys and girls across Putnam County have learned not to burn thanks to the efforts of a small army of volunteer firefighters and emergency responders.

Fire crews from Brewster, Carmel, Kent, Lake Carmel, Mahopac, Mahopac Falls, Patterson, Putnam Lake, and Putnam Valley, as well as Cold Spring, Garrison, Continental Village, and North Highlands, visited area schools in recent days teaching children about the benefits of fire but its dangers as well.

The youngsters were each given an assignment by the fire crews: “Go home and ask your mom or dad if the batteries in the family’s smoke detector were changed to coincide with the ending of Daylight Savings Time last weekend.”

John Bodor, the Patterson FD Fire Prevention Coordinator, called it “amazing” the number of reminders that have averted a potential tragedy: “Parents are very busy caring for their kids, many working two or three jobs just to make ends meet. A battery in a smoke detector is the farthest thing from their mind. A little reminder from Johnny or Susie can very easily avert a calamity of monumental proportions.”