Photo By Konstantinos Fantaousakis | NAVAL SUPPORT ACTIVITY SOUDA BAY, Greece (Oct. 13, 2023) Firefighters from the Naval...... read more read more
NAVAL SUPPORT ACTIVITY SOUDA BAY, Greece (Oct. 13, 2023) Firefighters from the Naval Support Activity (NSA) Souda Bay, Fire & Emergency Services (F&ES), visited Private School Mavromataki-Mitera and Theodoropoulos International School in Chania, Greece, to share fire prevention tips during Fire Prevention Week, Oct. 10 and 13, 2023, respectively. During the visits, the firefighters taught the children how to react in case of fire, demonstrated the functions of firefighter equipment, and answered questions from the students about fire safety.
"I consider my interactions with the next generation one of the most important [non-emergency] things we do," said Matt Labrise, fire captain, NSA Souda Bay F&ES. “When we go to the schools, I show [the students] all the fire protection appliances they have in their own classrooms and hallways. We also try to include in our curriculums lots and lots of interaction. Yes, we welcome their questions and stories. We can get dressed up in gear. We can even do science experiments involving smoke, fire, and pressurized water! Who better to satisfy these curiosities safely than the professionals?"
Labrise stated that his goal for these outreaches is to present the information in a fresh, fun and useful manner.
"This year's theme deals specifically with cooking emergencies,” added Labrise. “We demonstrated and discussed fire's immense need for oxygen and how smothering a cooking fire is such a highly effective extinguishment technique. It can be accomplished as simply as closing the oven door or putting a lid on a pot to starve a fire of oxygen. It is important to understand that cooking safety starts with you!"
Soula Galanakis, a teacher at Theodoropoulos International School, was very impressed by the valuable fire safety tips shared by the firefighters.
"Today, we had the honor to be visited by the American Firefighters from the [NSA Souda Bay]," said Galanakis. "They spoke to us about fire safety in the kitchen and showed us many hands-on experiments. The children absolutely loved it, especially the visit of Sparky the Fire Dog. It was a very educational visit to raise everybody's fire safety awareness," she added.
During the outreach, one of the firefighters dressed up like Sparky the Fire Dog, the mascot of the National Fire Prevention Association.
Kostas Manolakis, the director of Private School Mavromataki-Mitera noted that fire prevention measures are very important and that the students need to be reminded of them every year.
"It is important to be able to protect ourselves in case of fire and most importantly, to be able to prevent fires,” said Manolakis. “NSA Souda Bay firefighters' visit, and especially Sparky the Fire Dog, enabled our students to overcome their fear of fire and also appreciate the work of firefighters as they are the ones who will protect us when in danger."
Michalis Tsikoudakis, firefighter, NSA Souda Bay F&ES, noted that it was his first time teaching fire safety to children.
"It was an amazing experience for me to see how interested the children were in all the safety tips that we showed today,” said Tsikoudakis. “I definitely want to do it again in the future."
Michael King, firefighter and Emergency Medical Services technician, NSA Souda Bay F&ES, emphasized the importance of the public’s perception of firefighters.
"Children have to know that we are not big scary people coming into your house, we are here to help you out,” said King. “Our goal is to show you what we do, what we wear and we will provide all the valuable information that you need to be safe."
The children demonstrated their excitement for the opportunity to interact with the firefighters and Sparky the Fire Dog by cheering and engaging with the presentation.
NSA Souda Bay is an operational ashore installation which enables and supports U.S., Allied, Coalition, and Partner nation forces to preserve security and stability in the European, African, and Central Command areas of responsibility. For more information, visit us at www.cnic.navy.mil/SoudaBay or find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NSASoudaBay.
| Date Taken: | 10.13.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 10.17.2023 08:50 |
| Story ID: | 455941 |
| Location: | GR |
| Web Views: | 79 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, NSA Souda Bay Firefighters Visit Local Schools, by Konstantinos Fantaousakis, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
