Fire camp for kids Aug. 2-6

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Deputy Fire Chief Brian Brooks has scheduled the fifth-annual Fire Camp for youth in Whitehall for the first week of August, when kids will be able to learn about fire safety.

The program is free for kids within the community who will learn all the ropes of fire safety and how firefighters take action when getting ready to go to a fire as well as what they do during the blaze.

“During the week, we teach them all different things from first aid, we have an air ambulance come in and they see that,” Brooks said. ‘They get to watch it land and tour in it first-hand.”

During the week, Brooks and other volunteers will show the kids the importance of knowing how to combat flames through a controlled burn. Queensbury Town Fire Marshall comes to Whitehall during the week of Fire Camp and Brooks mentioned that the burn is propane fire extinguisher prop.

“It shows the kids how to use a fire extinguisher and since it’s a live fire situation, they’re not in any danger, but they can put it out and see real fire, it’s not a pretend thing,” he said.

Other opportunities kids will have at Fire Camp is learning and participating in a fire brigade. The brigade dives into the history of extinguishing fires before the convenience of fire trucks.

“The other thing is we have them race and compete (with) each other for hooking up a hose line from a hose bed and getting water on a barn fire,” he said. “Whoever gets the water there first and knocks, there’s a plywood flame that knocks over, and the first one that gets that done they win.”

The week is full of activities to keep kids occupied, but they will also take a trip to the Skenesborough Museum to see fire equipment that firefighters of Whitehall used decades ago.

“We take them over to the museum to show them the old fire protection we had,” he said. ‘There’s an 1841 Button pumper over there. Button was one of the first companies to start building hand-pumpers in America.”

There’s paperwork for parents to fill out which can be found on the Whitehall Volunteer Fire Company’s website. They will be responsible for dropping their children off and picking them up in the afternoon.

“But the Fire Camp, I think, gets kids to bring home a lot of fire safety information,” Brooks said. “One, their parents sign off so they know they’re going. They have to drop them off at nine in the morning and pick them up at three in the afternoon, and the kids are going to talk about what they learned.”

Brooks sees Fire Camp as an opportunity for kids to not only see if it is something they may be interested in in the future, but it’s also an opportunity for kids to teach their parents about fire safety and the importance of having a fire safety plan for their home.