Wymore fire crew welcomes Southern 4th graders for annual Fire Prevention Week demonstration

WYMORE - This week is Fire Prevention Week across the country - the 100th anniversary of the initiative first recognized in 1925.

This tradition hasn't been going on quite that long, but for decades one fire crew in Southeast Nebraska has celebrated this week by educating local elementary schoolers about fire safety, and what a fire crew does.

The crew from Wymore Fire and Rescue once again welcomed a couple of classes of 4th graders from Southern public school in Blue Springs to the fire hall this week for a hands-on demonstration of fire safety and prevention.

"They’re at a good age where we can talk to them and they can understand," Wymore fire chief Mark Meints said. "They’re right at that point where the younger you start talking about things to them, the better off you are, because over the years they’ll retain that a lot better. And they do listen, they do pay attention."

Every year Fire Prevention Week has a theme, or area of focus. This year's is on Lithium ion batteries, which power nearly every electronic device and can cause fires if not cared for properly.

"With everything that we have now that has lithium batteries, everything from electric scooters to your laptop to your phone, when you’re charging them, they get hot," Meints outlined. "And we actually had an incident a few years ago here in Wymore where a little girl was charging her game on her bed, and during the time period it got hot and caught on fire – and we had a house fire. So we know this really can happen."

Wymore has been hosting this demonstration for decades, and Meints, who's served on the team in various roles, including as its chief, for 25 years, says there's proof this program can have a positive effect.

"I remember one year we were talking about smoke detectors, and there was a little boy, he was raising his hand in the back of the room, and he says, “Where’s your smoke detector here in the fire hall?’ And we didn’t have one! In our own fire station! So we went out and bought one and put it up, and we had him come back down and showed him hey, we got our smoke detector now – so you know they’re paying attention. And we tell them before they leave, the information you learn here today, you need to share," Meints said.

Multiple current members of the Wymore fire crew said they remember going to these demonstrations when they were in fourth grade, which motivated them to eventually join the force as adults. That includes Meints and his wife and their three children, who all participated in this fire prevention week demonstration when they were in fourth grade.

"We've had no fires started by children, and that’s a positive, and we’ve kind of taken credit for that saying hey, we’ve taught these fourth graders," the elder Meints said. "The payback is sometimes they might want to be a volunteer firefighter when they get older. We have a cadet program here, and we’ve had some firefighters now that were cadets. Volunteerism in the fire service is really low right now, so anytime we can trigger something to get somebody, when they get old enough, to become a firefighter, we’re going to try that."

The highlight for this current crop of curious young students? Getting to see all the fire trucks and equipment first hand. And some of these kids that win a contest will get to ride to school on one of Wymore's fire trucks later this year.