Hundreds of elementary students from Indianapolis spent the day learning about fire safety as part of the 18 th annual Fire Safety Olympics Tuesday. The 1 st and 2 nd grade students participated in training at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.
Aleatha Henderson is the director of public health at the Indianapolis Fire Department. She looks forward to watching kids learn something new at the event every year.
"We only have them for a short time, but the impact that we have and can make, it goes on forever," Henderson says.
Students participated in hands-on activities like saving a baby, stop, drop & roll drills, and escaping a simulated fire. They also learned about how to correctly make a 9-1-1 call, and listened to fire officials talk about gun safety and child passenger safety.
Henderson says it's an important event that prepares kids for real-world situations.
"We do education all year round, but to be able to get 900 kids together at one time is an awesome opportunity for us," Henderson says.
Since the program started nearly 20 years ago, Henderson says the department has seen a dramatic decrease in the number of child fatalities related to fire.