Photograph by Robert Scheer
Graduates of Sunnyvale's preschool fire safety program climb a city fire engine after graduation exercises Friday. Pictured are: Ryan Weisner, 4, front, Marvin Escobar, 5, back, Ryan Nelson, 5, right.
By KATHERINE PETERSEN
While 300 preschoolers graduated from a fire safety class May 17, two Sunnyvale families were still recovering from devastating fires caused by children playing with matches and candles.
On April 30, a 6-year-old child was playing with matches in a bedroom closet on Socorro Avenue in Lakewood Village, a fire services spokesman said.
Firefighters encountered heavy smoke and flames as they arrived on the scene and were able to contain the fire in 10 minutes and extinguish it in 15, said Karen O'Brien, administrative manager for the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety's Fire Services. Smoke and flames had spread throughout the house, which sustained damages of about $170,000.
The exteriors of neighboring homes and two vehicles were damaged as well, O'Brien said.
On May 12, firefighters responded to a structure fire at a two-story apartment on Weddell Drive where they could see heavy smoke and flames, O'Brien said.
Firefighters determined the fire was caused by a 9-year-old who was playing with tissue paper and a lit candle in the second-floor apartment. The tissue paper caught fire, was dropped and then a nearby sheet burst into flames, O'Brien said. The child fled downstairs with an older sibling who had tried to put the fire out with a bucket of water.
The fire caused an estimated $120,000 in damage. The second-floor apartment is gutted, and the two lower apartments sustained heavy water and smoke damage, O'Brien said.
Children have the opportunity to learn about fire safety in elementary school, but earlier this year 305 Sunnyvale preschoolers participated in a new fire safety curriculum.
Bob Isaacs, the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety's fire safety coordinator, said Kid Safe is geared toward making young children aware of what fire is and what precautions should be taken. Such a program could help instill fire safety in children at a young age and prevent fires such as the two in the past month, Isaacs said.
Isaacs expected 300 to 350 people, including kids and their family and friends, to attend graduation from the program May 17 at the Sunnyvale Community Center. Roughly 305 kids participated in this year's pilot program: 150 from two Sunnyvale preschools, Little Rascals and California World, and five from Piazza Family Day Care. Isaacs said he hopes more daycare centers and preschools will participate in the future.
The program, developed by Sherman Carthen, deputy chief of the Oklahoma City Fire Department, provided kids with activities to teach them about hot and cold objects, matches and escape routes from their homes.
"It's not just kids doing activities. It brings parents into the program as well," Isaacs said.
Vicki Piazza, who runs Piazza Family Day Care, said in the first lesson children learned the difference between hot and cold objects. "We walk around the house and they learn that stoves and irons are hot, while ice in a glass or ice cream is cold. We are teaching them what they can touch and what they should have their parents touch," she said. She added that in later lessons kids were taught that only parents can touch matches.
Debbie Garber, whose daughter Emilie, 4, attends Little Rascals, said her daughter took the program seriously and now monitors the smoke alarm in her home.
"We all crawled on the floor as if under smoke to the door and we all have the stop, drop, roll and cover your face drill if you're on fire down pat," she said.
Garber said her daughter felt grownup being able to bring homework home.
She said that she spent a lot of time teaching her kids about fire safety. "We do a lot of camping and we told them the basics about campfire, but I don't think they knew about the smoke alarm before this program," she said.
She said it has made her more aware of what is in her home as far as explaining it to her children.
Garber thinks the message about fire safety is further solidified coming from both teachers and parents.
"Kids sometimes take things more seriously if they hear them from somebody other than a parent," she said.
People who would like to help victims of one of the recent fires may make contributions to the Brown Family Fire Fund, c/o Bank of the West, 380 S. Mathilda Ave., 94086.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, May 22, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.