Playing with fire

Program trainers at an upcoming fire safety workshop say it’s natural for children to be curious about fire, but they don’t always realize the consequences of what they’re doing. -- Jason Kerr/Daily Herald

Safety instructors are looking to give Prince Albert educators and firefighting personnel some insight into how children view fire safety, and some tips for increasing their awareness.

On April 27, instructors will be in the city offering the Play Safe! Be Safe! workshop, which aims to help people understand the challenges that come up when discussing fire safety with children.

Workshop organizers say it’s an important issue that’s commonly misunderstood.

“Sometimes we think that children are basically little adults, so we can just tell them, ‘don’t touch fire. It can hurt you. It’s dangerous. You need to stay away,” program trainer Molly Clifford explained. “They know that it’s something that they shouldn’t do, like so many of the rules that parents give them, but they don’t really know why.”

Clifford is a former Director of Fire Administration with the Rochester Fire Department in New York, where she worked on fire prevention programs, code enforcement and community outreach. She started teaching Play Safe! Be Safe! workshops roughly 20 years ago, and said many children are naturally curious about fire. However, they don’t really understand the danger.

For the rest of this story, please see the April 12 online or print edition of the Daily Herald.

Clarification: This workshop is open to childhood educators and fire service personnel only. Members of the public are not able to register.

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