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Demonstration held Wednesday at Scranton School for Deaf
Interpreter Mary Ann Stefko signs to second and third grade students of the Scranton School for Dead and Hard-of-Hearing Children during Wednesday’s fire safety presentation.
JASON RIEDMILLER PHOTOS / FOR GO LACKAWANNA
SCRANTON – The essential lessons of fire safety are the same, no matter a person’s abilities. That’s the message Scranton Fire Prevention Officer Shaun Flynn and Fire Inspector Jack Joyce delivered to students at the Scranton School for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children on Wednesday morning.
Flynn led the school’s 35 students, from kindergarten through high school applied studies, through various levels of fire safety techniques.
The department, he said, will attempt to visit schools across the district through the remainder of October to recognize Fire Prevention Month.
“It has very little to do with them being hearing impaired. It has far more to do with their maturity level,” Flynn said. “Usually, at the other schools, I’m teaching them about the hearing impaired.”
The needs of students like those at the Scranton School are important, however.
“What we have to remember is that while some kids get great benefit from their hearing aids or cochlear implants during the day, when they take those off at night when it seems many fires happen, they are deaf,” Scranton School Principal Nancy Benham said. “We have to make sure that families work with their children, that they definitely have a plan, and if possible, that they have a visual smoke alarm.”
Visual smoke alarms, those with a flashing light along with an audible alarm, must be specially ordered and can cost close to $130, according to Benham. The alarms require a great deal of power and must be hard-wired into an electrical system.
“When you look at possibly saving a life, it’s well worth the value,” she added.
Students began fire safety lessons in early October to learn the basics, including the idea to stop, drop and roll if clothes catch on fire; staying away from matches; changing batteries in smoke alarms; and how to approach a door during a fire.
Victor Rivera, 7, a second grade student from Wilkes-Barre seemed to have all of the answers during the first session Wednesday morning.
He also walked away with some important lessons about escaping a house during a fire, like descending stairs on your hands and knees backwards to avoid smoke inhalation.
“That’s one thing that I didn’t know,” Rivera said. He added that he’s learned “a little bit” about fire safety in school and a lot more at home.
When Rivera’s teacher, Anne Thomas, informed students that they would visit the smoke house at 9 a.m., “everyone shouted, ‘Hooray!’” Rivera said.
“They have been so excited. They saw the smoke house arrive (Tuesday). They are thrilled to have them here,” Benham said of the Scranton Fire Department.