Fire Department

October is finally here! (Almost)

Nationwide, the Fire Service celebrates Annual Fire Prevention Month in October.  This is a special time for the City of Madison Fire Department: the Badger football team is in full swing, the leaves are changing, the mornings are cool, and Fire Prevention/Education is in full gear. 

The City of Madison, in cooperation with the Dane County Fire Chiefs' Association, will kick off Fire Prevention Month this year with its annual Fire Truck Parade on Sunday, October 7.  Beginning at 1:00 pm from the corner of Lake and State Streets, the parade will proceed to the Capitol Square, where the fire trucks will be on display until 3:00 pm. 

I encourage the community to come out and meet the emergency responders who make a difference day in and day out in our City and County.  It is also a great opportunity to see up close all the tremendous fire apparatus that Dane County is blessed with.

The City of Madison Fire Department has had several themes over the years to help the community we live in focus on personal and household safety.  Regardless of the theme, the community needs to remain focused on smoke detector batteries, careless cooking events, responsible smoking (a bit of an oxymoron), and overall general household safety. 

The National Fire Prevention Association's theme for 2012 is "Be Rabbit Ready" and we will be utilizing their materials in our presentations in Madison elementary schools.  The lesson is that while rabbits can't do too many things very well (like play football or lift weights) the one thing they always do right is to have two ways out of their burrows. In case of emergency if one way is blocked, they have a second way out.

The students will view a short animated video and then listen to a lecture that includes interaction with some members of the audience.  We will ask the principal or a teacher if their school is "Rabbit Ready": (does the school have two ways out, does it have an escape map, etc.).  We will then encourage the children to work with their families to make their home Rabbit Ready.

We will also talk about how firefighters are always Rabbit Ready to do their job and will have a firefighter don turnout gear.

The students will receive trading cards that have fire safety messages on them.  In addition, fire safety storybooks will be left behind for the teachers to read to their classes.  This will help reinforce the fire safety message after our program.  These books may be kept in the classroom for future use or may be sent home with one of the children.

Let's all work together to make our community safer!

Steven A. Davis
Fire Chief
City of Madison