Part of the NZ Fire and Emergency ‘Get Firewise’ in-school programme, which focuses on teaching fire safety information to five and six-year-olds, our students had the opportunity to learn what to do in the event of a fire.

Developed using best practice techniques for teaching safety information to young children, the programme provides the knowledge and behaviours they need to stay fire safe and escape from a potentially dangerous situation. Simply put, ‘Get Firewise’ provides youngsters with lifelong behaviours that will help to keep them out of harm's way.

“I liked how they talked about how to be safe,” explains five-year-old Olivia Xiao.

“I liked how they talked about keeping safe too,” echoes five-year-old Jeremy Zhang.

The children got to practise crawling through pretend smoke, and they all had a chance to climb inside the ever-popular fire truck. A particular highlight was when the fire truck was elevated so that its wheels were off the ground. This was cause for great excitement.

“I liked the big fire truck,” confirms six-year-old Riley Blair.

Five-year-old Matteo Luo agrees, saying “I liked everything. It was so cool.”

In combination with ACG Sunderland’s Leadership Programme, Year 1 to 6 students were also fortunate enough to hear from a genuine hero and role model when Senior Firefighter from the Te Atatu Station, Barbara Adler, shared many insightful thoughts and ideas.

In her interactive presentation, she encouraged her audience to work hard, listen to their teachers and set an example as a good team player. Barbara spoke about the different jobs that firefighters perform and inspired many youngers to consider a career in the emergency services.

The students were enthralled and undoubtedly many conversations were held over the dinner table that evening about fire safety checks, smoke alarms and developing escape plans.