Rye Fire Protection District Staff have been thrilling Rye Elementary students for the past few months. Under the leadership of RFPD firefighter Matt Kell, RFPD staff are visiting different classes at Rye Elementary each Tuesday. At least one other RFPD staff member besides Kell goes along and they read to the students, provide them with firefighter-related pictures to color, and just generally provide a lot of fun. Generally, they do sessions with two different classes, but Kell said there was one day he was able to spend the whole day at the school and complete four sessions.
While the students love the chance to talk to “real firefighters,” Kell explained that the program is also about safety. “It gives us a chance to teach fire safety on their level. We can talk about fire prevention and fire safety while they are coloring a picture and having fun. We can talk about evacuation plans for their homes, teach them to stay away from hot places, and that matches and lighters are only for grownups. It is a great opportunity to meet with kids and enact with them. It can make a huge difference in an emergency situation if children are educated about firefighters and fire safety. If they panic and run from us in a fire situation it endangers them and us both.”
Kell offers high praise for Rye Elementary teachers and staff. “They are good to me there,” he says. “They gave me a spot in the library to set up and help with anything we need.”
Kell, RFPD firefighter and public education officer, has been working on setting this program up with District 70 for over two years but, like so many other things, when the COVID pandemic hit and schools shut down it was delayed. While put on the backburner, the program was not forgotten. During the pandemic, RFPD expanded its Facebook page to include monthly fire safety tips and ideas.
Kell is using the National Fire Protection Association’s Learn Not to Burn program to supply some of the materials used at Rye Elementary. The students are coloring pictures that Kell plans to make into a book that they can keep.
It seems that Kell has found his passion as a public education officer. He shared, “I absolutely love working with people, and especially the kids. I have a lot of programs planned if COVID will just leave us alone. While we are working with the Pre-K, Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grades with this program, the whole month of March we will be working with the 3rd graders in preparation for our Fire Chief for a Day Program. I have a lot of summer games and programs planned also.”