Introduction

For about the past ten years, our fire district has hosted a 2 day Kid’s Jr. Fire Academy that has been a great experience.

In the past, we have offered it to children ages 5 - 10 from the hours of 9:00 - 2:00 with lunch included. It seems that we always fill up quickly and have to turn away a few people each year.

This year, I decided to divide the academy up into a morning and afternoon session to increase the space available. In the mornings, we presented the program to Kindergarten - 2nd grade and 3rd - 5th in the afternoon.

Due to the age split and the fact that it is time to review the program and revitalize it, I took some time to revamp the program, adding some new activities and tweaking others.  What follows it the resulting guidelines.  In most cases, I tried to utilize freely available materials in order to make the program as useable as possible for others.

Over the next few days, this series will cover how we set up our program, what we did and some ideas for making your own program a success.  At the end of the series, FireEducator.com will make the entire program available for download.

Acknowledgments

This project would not have been completed without the assistance and input of several people.  Portions of the program were adapted from other individual programs with permission.  A special thank you goes out to all of these individuals for their contributions.

• Tim Wheeler – Chief of Fire Prevention, Edmonton Fire Department
• Carter S. Hill – Assistant Fire Chief, City of Ridgeland, MS
• Nick Doerfler – Lieutenant, New Lenox Fire Protection District, IL

Program Overview

The Kid’s Fire Academy is an eight hour program that can be broken up over two days.  While the program can be run in a single day, we have found that it was easier to give the participants a break after about four hours.

Our costs for the program included the following:

• Miscellaneous office supplies, crayons, paper plates, scissors
• Snacks, water and juice
• The cost of the manpower – We utilized on-duty personnel to assist with the public education staff in order to reduce this cost.
• A department logo t-shirt with Kid’s Academy on the back for each student.  Since we allowed registration up to the day before the program, the shirts were not available during the academy.  They had to be delivered after graduation.
• Videos & Props – We did not have any costs associated with videos or props as we utilized items that we had previously purchased.  For the sake of the program that we are presenting here,  we have tried to use freely available videos and props whenever possible.  As always, please feel free to substitute our videos with something in your own collection.

Paperwork, Paperwork, Paperwork

One of the next important tasks to complete was to get all of our paperwork together for the program.  This included the following:

• Letter to the Chief explaining our intentions and seeking budget approval for the program.
• A  press release announcing the program.  We also posted this information on our department web site to increase its visibility in the community.
• A printable brochure describing the program activities that included a registration form.
• A memo to the duty crews that would be participating in the activities as well as requesting that the registration information be posted on our station marquee’s for the public to see.

Promote & Register

After getting approval to host the program, it’s time to promote the program and get your residents to register.  Here are some of the methods that we utilize.

• Send out a press release to local community papers as well as the bigger regional papers for our area.
• Send the press release to radio and local TV stations.
• Ask local businesses and government offices to post a poster or informational sheet.
• Utilize the station sign or marquee to post program dates and registration information.
• Post the event on your department or city web site.

Take into consideration that many newsrooms now accept press releases in digital format only.  They may require you to send the release to a special email address or complete a web form in order to submit your release.

You also want to be sure to get your information out early enough to allow the media outlet time to promote our event as well as give potential participants adequate time to register.   At a minimum, you should consider doing this one month in advance of the program.

Ready! Set! Go!

There are only a few things left to do in order to get your program ready to run.

• Recruit help for implementing your program – whether you are going to pay assistants or they are going to volunteer their time, you still need to get helpers.  Look for some older students or scouts who might be willing to help with the children.
• Schedule your helpers and provide them with their lesson plans.  Nothing beats having a prepared presenter even when it comes to teaching children.  Give your helpers the resources that they need to be successful early enough for them to practice.
• Prepare your class roster and name tags ahead of time.
• Prepare your graduation certificates.  This will save you time in the long run.  You can always make additions or changes later if the roster changes
• Make arrangements for lunch.  Decide what you are going to have, how you are going to acquire it and be sure someone orders it.
• Be prepared to be flexible if the weather does not cooperate.  Some activities may have to be completed indoors if inclement weather arises.
• Make copies and get your supplies ready.
• Prepare a take home packet to give to the parents on the first day when they drop off their child.  This packet is a great opportunity to provide some educational and PR material to the parent. Our free, downloadable package will include some sample materials.

Relax! You’ve got your program ready to go.

Got a thought to add?  Join our discussion below.