National Fire Prevention Week celebrates centennial
Kristen Jones
Farmer Staff Writer
During the second week of October every year, the United States of America observes Fire Prevention Week. This year marks 100 years of the event and many McKenzie County residents are excited about that. The most exciting part of this week for local firefighters is the annual visits they make to the schools. The kids look forward to it every year, and the firefighters certainly do too.
The Arnegard rural fire department gets to visit the Head Start program in Watford City each year and Fire Chief Rick Schreiber says it is something they love. “It is so fun to go see the kids and to show them our trucks and equipment,” Schreiber said.
Their visit starts with the kids learning and exploring a fire truck before going inside to learn more about the fire-fighters. He explained that the goal of these visits to the young kids isn’t to regurgitate information to them, but to expose them to the gear and equipment the fire department uses so they know what to expect if they were ever in need of rescue. “We definitely talk about the yearly theme, but our main focus is to have a really positive interaction with them. These little kids won’t understand if you stand there and lecture, but when they see us in all of our gear and get to touch and feel and hear us, that makes a big impression,” Schreiber said.
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