Today we had a super exciting day - Michael's daddy Karl is a fireman and he came to visit to tell us all about his job as a fire fighter. His friend Ian came as well and they brought a fire engine!!!!! Ian explained that they have a uniform that says Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue and this means that not only do they deal with fires but they also help to rescue people and animals. If there was a car accident they have special tools such as super strong scissors to cut the roof off the car to help get people out quickly and safely.
Karl and Ian explained how their uniforms are made out of special materials to protect them when they are tackling a fire as it is extremely hot. They have breathing apparatus and helmets to help them breath and have to use equipment such as an axe to break down the doors, hoses to put out the fires and traffic cones to help keep the area safe.
We know that we have smoke alarms in our houses and Karl asked what we should do if the smoke alarm went off. Sometimes we said the smoke alarm might go off if the toast or the dinner gets burnt yet if there was a fire or smoke we should go outside to a safe place and a grown up could call 999 to get help. Tonight at home why don't you test your smoke alarm and make a family plan that if you had a fire - where would be a good place to stand outside that would be safe and to help your child learn their address.
Then we went outside to see all the equipment that they have in the engine - they are very tidy as they need to know where to get the equipment quickly. We got to sit in the cab, see the hoses and the ladders on the top of the engine so that they can quickly climb up them to help people. We listened to the sirens and saw the blue flashing lights - this helps to tell people to move over so that the fire engine can quickly get to fire or accident. And then we got to use the hose - it was so exciting and the water was very powerful.
A great day - thank you Michael, Karl and Ian!
