Reading about tragedies such as the one in Hermosillo reminds me of all the efforts I put in to training of fire prevention. This incident could have been the one that could have saved a lot of lives if only the fire/smoke detector was in place. My wife a former teacher tells how the parents of the students would bring all the necessary things needed for students to do their school work. On the other hand as a firefighter and looking at things from my side wonder did the training I provided to the parents who attended my sessions dig in when I would ask who had the small fire extinguisher and alarm you can find at Wal-Mart not be a part of the budget?

We really do not need this kind of reminder to prevent such incidents but should be part of the school system to have them installed in public places without having to be told and use the fire prevention manuals they so call use as a standard.

It is rarely accepted by fellow humans as something necessary to the house hold until something like loss of lives are involved. I myself do the same, forget and thanks to the Laredo Fire Department and internet website that promote fire prevention that it time to change the batteries that we remember or forget to buy the batteries. Thru this organization we should have in place an automatic alert for such thing and to be very frank the local fire department can do some public relations activities with honor and not just do it because it’s part of the job.

The last time I had the opportunity to address the rookie fire academy I proposed the task for the current academy as a project. When I was an instructor I would assign the task as part of the fire academy to visit their grandparents and check on the safety of the house hold. The participation was great but do we have a follow up plan for them or was it just an assignment completed? The fire service spends a lot of money doing fire prevention but is it really happening or do we really have to wait for an Hermosio to have to open our eyes?

The fire service sometimes gets complacent, and expects for all to realize that that it’s a given and it should be done regardless of the type of experience you might have during your life span. The fire service spends most of its money in fire protection which is why it compensates to the public the amount of money spend. Why not dedicate an hour to fire prevention and public awareness once a week? There is no crime in spending some money of the tax payers in such a noble assignment.

The program of going to schools and doing fire prevention planning is very good but we are actually not reaching the 2 and 3 year old kids who do not have an idea of what is security of the house hold as we the older generation have in regards to acts of terrorism we are all worried about.

Fire Prevention should take another look at where we stand in training the public and program a plan for the near future and find a simple way to do things. During my tenure as an instructor I camea cross several programs bilingual an adopted by NFPA for presentations.

My daughters is a pre-kinder teacher and use her to see if such program really work. The project might have a point but it was more effective when I visited her class room and prior to that the kids were informed Captain Quintanilla was going to be there.

A couple of simple props like a fire detector and a wooden match would grab the attention of the kids with the loud piercing sound that could wake up the dead. That sound is something the dead would remember hearing if they could come back to life more than 90 decibels.

This program would be financed thru the National Fire projects and very available to volunteer fire departments that lack the structure of a department and great public relations for future development of full pledge department.

When we talk international fire fighting it’s a way of getting the attention to necessary equipment needed. As I read comments of necessary equipment needed for the fire department to operate and how extrication tools are needed look back and see how it would benefit the 48 kids that lost their lives hoping someone with a little experience could have benefit by providing assistance. Even our best prepared fire departments lack equipment but it the basic firefighter’s skills that ready count it the face of gates of hell. My heart goes out to those who have lost a friend, son or daughter as I feel with the lost of my son to drug violence.