By SHELLEY TERRY - Staff Writer - sterry@starbeacon.com
Firefighters from Ashtabula, and Plymouth and Saybrook townships are preparing for this year’s Fire Prevention Week in a new way.
In cooperation with Ashtabula Area City Schools, Ss. John and Paul Elementary School and Kent State University, the firefighters will be showing an innovative video Oct. 5-9 that takes the audience inside a fire.
Produced by veteran TV science reporter/ meteorologist, Dr. Franklyn Field, who spent nearly 50 years in the New York market, the film dispels Hollywood’s misconceptions about fire.
The video, “Fire is ...,” is a realistic film that presses adults to plan for fires at home by educating their children about what a fast-moving blaze can do. It includes riveting scenes of Field, in a mask, stumbling for an exit in a smoky fire at a training facility, as well as footage from real fires.
The goal for this year’s Fire Prevention Week, Oct. 4-10, is to dramatically increase the number of children and parents who see this life-saving program, according to a press release from the Ashtabula Fire Department.
The Ashtabula area is one of Field’s pilot sites.
In cooperation with Kent State University-Ashtabula, the “Fire Is ...” video series will be repeatedly shown on the Kent State Time Warner Cable TV Channel 29, starting at 6 p.m. Oct. 5, through the end of the month. A new part will be aired each night of the week at 6 p.m., then repeated at 8 each night.
Every elementary school student in the Ashtabula Area City School District will be given a notice and schedule to take home of when the movie will be aired. The student will be asked to watch it with parents. They will then be asked to return a simple form to their school, listing which of the five parts they watched at home.
Observance dates to Chicago fire
Fire Prevention Day began Oct. 9, 1911, on the anniversary of the great Chicago gire of 1871.
The disaster killed 250 people and destroyed 17,430 buildings at a cost of $168 million, but the blaze got people thinking in terms of fire prevention instead of just fire fighting.
The Fire Marshals Association of North America, now part of the National Fire Protection Association, started Fire Prevention Day.
President Woodrow Wilson first proclaimed the day on the 40th anniversary of the Chicago blaze.
