The Orono Fire Department is actively involved in fire prevention for the community. Were as we are a small department and also feel that prevention is everyone's responsibility, all of our firefighters assist if prevention programs. It is overseen by a Captain and developed, maintained, and implemented by a fire fighter assigned to prevention. Each year a fire fighter, and any school teacher that wants to go, attends the annual Pine Tree Burn Foundation Seminar to share and learn new ways of getting the prevention message across to the public, mainly children. We also send any fire fighter interested to any classes that relate to fire prevention or public education. We feel that the considerable amounts of time, money, and resources that is put into these programs are well worth the effort.
Preschool Program:
A member of the fire department
visits our seven daycare's in town once a month. Most classes last
for 20 minutes. Each visit we try to concentrate on only one topic
such as stop, drop, and roll. We have found that if you cover more
than one topic the students confuse them. We basically use the NFPA's
"Learn Not To Burn" program but we have modified it to suit
our needs. There are eight Firesafety behaviors that we want the
preschool children to know at the end of the year and these are: Stay
away from hot things, Tell a grown-up when you find matches or
lighters, Stop, drop, and roll, Cool a burn, Crawl low under smoke,
Know the sound of a smoke detector, Practice an escape plan, and
Recognize the fire fighter as a friend. We also give tours of the
fire station and bring the apparatus to the school.
Grade School Program:
A member of the fire department
visits each class in our grade school once a month. This consists of
20 class rooms for a total of approximately 350 children. We use a
modified Learn Not to Burn program. Each class ranges from 20 minutes
for the Kindergartners to 50 minutes for the 5th graders. We divided
the program up into 7 months, in the May we have a post test and then
a field day in June to wrap it all up. During the field day we set up
demonstrations for the children such as a Smoke house, High angle
rescue, Vehicle extrication, Grease fires, and Apparatus being used.
We try to expose the children to some of the things we do so that
they will be familiar with us as firefighters and our equipment if
the time ever comes that an emergency arises involving them. At the
end of the day we have a cook out with hot dogs and ice cream for
desert.
High School Program:
The high school program notes for
this page are currently being written. Sorry for any inconveinence.
University of Maine Program:
At the opening of school we
have an informational session with all of the Resident Directors and
Resident Assistants. Here we explain the fire codes and University
policies that relate to residential halls. We have some call
firefighters that a Marshal for a group of dormitories. They are
responsible for an inspection once a week, a prevention program once
a semester, and the schedulings of a fire drill once a semester for
their sections. During the course of the year the University has some
"field day" type of events such as Earth Day, Homecoming
weekend, Special Olympics, etc. that we enjoy being involved in. One
event the students enjoy is the water battles. This consists of a
metal buoy on a suspended steel cable, we use dump trucks to suspend
the cable so we can get the cable tight. Two 1 3/4 lines are hooked
to a hydrant and teams of 3 to 5 are placed on each nozzle opposing
each other. The object is to move the buoy along the cable from the
center line to the other team's line. For safety reasons the teams
are forbidden to direct the stream at the other team resulting in
immediate disqualification. We have found this to be an excellent PR
tool to improve relations with the students. They usually only think
of us at 3:00 in the morning in the middle of winter while standing
outside waiting for us to reset another malicious alarm.
Adult Program:
This is the first year we are offering a
program for the adult town residents. It consists of 3 Wednesdays in
a row starting at 6:30pm and lasting approximately 3 hours. The
classes are divided as follows. The first night is an Introduction to
the fire service, Basic fire behavior, hands on training of fire
extinguishers, and fire codes and residential inspections. The second
night covers personnel protection from flames and smoke, different
causes of fire and preventive measures, Holiday fire safety, and
outdoor fire safety. The third night covers Hazardous Materials in
the home, Arson, and What, why, and how we do things in the fire
service. There is a fourth night that is optional, We go to Oak Hall
at the University (an old vacant dormitory) and smoke a floor and
give the students a chance to demonstrate some of the skills learned
through the program. We also demonstrate the use of some of our
equipment and give the students a chance to use some of it.
Senior Citizen Program:
We are currently putting
together a program to visit all of our senior citizen centers and
housings to educate them on the subjects that pertain to them.
Businesses and Organizations:
In addition to life safety
inspections to all of the town businesses we will also provide a fire
safety class to any and all organizations and businesses that request
one. Most often a hands on fire extinguisher class is requested but
we will specifically design a class pertaining to their specific
needs.
Project DAL:
The Orono Fire Department is actively
involved in a smoke detector give away program for the Greater Bangor
area. Project DAL (Detectors Are Lifesavers) was formed in 1996 by a
group of concerned persons and organizations who want to reduce the
number of fire fatalities in the Bangor area. Project DAL is
committed to distributing Smoke Detector Packets to all newborns born
at Eastern Maine Medical Center, All low- income families, and to the
elderly. The group recognizes that people must also take
responsibility for their personnel safety. By educating people about
the importance of buying and maintaining smoke detectors, Project DAL
hopes to serve as a catalyst for changing people's attitudes toward
fire safety. For more information please contact the persons or
organizations below.
Chairperson Vice-Chairperson Treasure Jason Johnson Lois-Ann Holmes Wayne Tripp Bangor Fire Bangor Health & American Red Department Welfare Department Cross (207) 942-6335 (207) 941-0256 (207) 941-2903 Secretary Kathy Jeffrey St. Joseph's Hospital (207) 262-1720 Members: Gloria J Cote Larry Willis Nancy Ballard Nedra Mackinnon Hermon Fire Eastern Maine Bangor Health & Department Medical Center Welfare Department (207)848-5986 (207)973-7747 (207)941-0256 Pete Metcalf Rick Briggs Stephen A. Carpenter Darrell Webb Hampden Fire Brewer Fire Jeffrey Cammack Department Department Bangor Fire (207)862-4586 (207)989-7002 Department (207) 942-6335 Larry Bruen Orono Fire Department (207)866-4451
For any comments, suggestions, or info on any of the programs listed please contact the Orono Fire Department at: PO Box 130 or Orono, ME 04473 (207)866-4451
This page was written by Larry Bruen
Main page