Northshore Fire Department receives State Farm grant to teach fire safety to children

The Northshore Fire Department received a grant from State Farm Insurance for $4,328 to assist with funding for the Department’s Elementary School Fire Safety Program. Northshore Fire will begin its fifth year presenting the program this fall in the five elementary schools in the fire district.   “The Northshore and Shoreline school districts have supported this program from the beginning and have generously allowed us into the classrooms to deliver these important safety messages to the students,” said Fire Marshal Jeff LaFlam.

Northshore firefighters and fire-prevention staff visit the kindergarten, first-, third- and sixth-grade classrooms to teach students about fire safety and fire-survival skills. More than 6,150 students have benefited from this program over the last four years. Students receive a take-home folder with information that reinforces what they learned in class. It also includes resources for the whole family.

Northshore Fire Department graduates 31 Safe Sitters

The Northshore Fire Department graduated 31 future babysitters from its July and August Safe Sitter classes. The students are trained in a wide variety of important skills including how to handle life-threatening emergencies, how to keep themselves safe, when and how to call for help and how to understand and deal with children of different ages. In addition, the students learn infant and child CPR and choking rescue. To successfully complete the Safe Sitter program, students must pass a rigorous practical and written test to show that they have mastered the key concepts and have the skills necessary to handle an emergency.

Safe Sitters is a national program for young adolescents, ages 11 to 13. Nationally, more than a half-million students have completed the Safe Sitter training. For more information on Safe Sitters, visit www.safesitter.org. To inquire about future classes, call the Northshore Fire Department at (425) 354-1744 or email tjones@northshorefire.com.

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