Educating young students and being active in the community is a major goal in the Starkville Fire Department, and started long before SFD Fire Marshal Mark McCurdy and other fire staff joined the department.
"It's important to educate people—especially young students—about how to stay safe in the event of a fire," McCurdy said. "None of us want to see it happen, but it's up to our department to be that learning resource."
"We're really focus on the first, second and third graders," McCurdy added. "We also reach out to fourth and fifth graders. With them, we can get into a bit more detail about what we do."
October is the department's busiest outreach month, with McCurdy and SFD Fire Marshal Stien McMullen organizing events across Starkville to show students the ins and outs of fire safety. The annual initiative was kicked off Friday at the Emerson Family Resource Center and the Institute for Community Services.
On October 15, SFD will set up a fire engine at Lowe's on Highway 12 for families. The department will then host Sudduth Elementary October 20 and October 24 to 27.
"When there are a lot of kids, we try to make sure we can cover all the basics like creating a fire safety plan, calling 911 and stop-drop-and-roll techniques—that's why we are doing multiple days with Suddith," McCurdy said.
"We also go through things like smoke detectors, insulation and use, what it means if a detector is going off," he added. "The home escape plan is really important. With that, we also want to make sure they know their address so if they have to call 911, they can get EMS to them."
Later in the month, SFD will work with Creative Learning Center with an outreach event on October 28, and welcome Overstreet Elementary before leading Peter's Rock Temple Church of God in Christ's Pink Lives Walk on October 30.
For more, see the Oct. 9 edition.