Palatine Fire Open House Teaches Safety Lessons

A number of valuable fire and other safety lessons were laid out for children and adults at an open house Saturday at the , 220 W. Illinois Ave.

Among the hands-on activities was a maze children navigated to understand the importance of ‘staying low and going’ if in a fire.

Children were required to crawl through three foot tunnels to mirror getting as low as possible to avoid inhaling smoke. After making it out safely, they pulled a dry fire hose and mimicked putting out a fire. They then rescued a small dummy and pulled it to safety.  

“I liked it when we raced through the tunnels and got to drag the hose and rescue the dummy,” said Madelyn Hilleshein, 10-year-old Palatine resident.

Little ones got the chance to spray a real fire hose, with real high-powered water in it.

“I got to spray the water like a real fireman,” said Mike Jacobs, age four. "It got me wet but I had still had fun."

A miniature Hazard House displayed potential dangers and actions that can cause fires, such as having electrical appliances plugged in next to a filled bathtub or leaving plugged in items such as curling irons on towels or clothing.

Kids also were taught about the importance of cleaning lint out of clothing dryers and reminded never to play with matches.

Firefighters demonstrated how they use extrication tools to remove trapped victims in car accidents.

“The goal is to pull the vehicle away from the patient so as not to worsen their potential injuries,” said Stan Bednarek, lieutenant.

Two mock ‘burn rooms’ containing what looked like an average living room also were set up, one with only a smoke detector and the other with a detector and a fire sprinkler.

Firefighters lit the first on fire, and in three minutes there was a ‘flash-over.’

“A flash-over means every item in the room has absorbed heat to the point that they are now giving off gasses and smoke; the fire then engulfs the entire room-this shows how quickly a situation can go from bad to worse,” said Matthew Nagy, lieutenant.

The fire in the burn room with the sprinkler and smoke detector was then started, and was under control within 30 seconds.

"This shows the value of installing sprinklers, or at least putting as many smoke detectors as possible in the house,” said Daniel Vrbancic, firefighter/paramedic.

Just prior to the end of the event, a flight-for-life helicopter landed in Cardinal Park across the street from the fire station so onlookers could get a close-up look at it.

Children were able to build and paint fire boats and received a number of giveaway items such as key chains, firefighter-themed pencil erasers and window cling-ons and firefighter badges.

“We had a great turnout today, we’re very big on public education about fire safety and we try to make it family-friendly while being very informative,” said Nathan Paulsberg, firefighter/paramedic.