Fire safety education: Combining fun with learning

Posted on October 15, 2026 by Ryan Dahlman

By Marcus Day

Maple Creek News

One by one, children appeared at a bedroom window. 
They were held up by Maple Creek fire chief Blaine Becker.

“Come on through,” said firefighter Trent Empey outside, arms outstretched.

As smoke filled the room, he carried each child to safety.

In this photograph by Jamie Rieger, Empey is about to take hold of seven-year-old Jaxon. The “rescue” was part of safety training for Sidney Street School’s Grade 1 students at the Community Fire Hall on Friday, October 2.

Making lessons more impactful, Maple Creek Community Fire Department members used Kindersley Fire Department’s  interactive public education trailer.

The Saskatchewan Association of Fire Chiefs interactive trailer offers simulation exercises in separate compartments. Props like heated doors and smoke machines create life-like fire conditions.

There is also an instruction area and a flat-screen TV displaying fire prevention messages, and a working bedroom window to simulate an escape route; it was through this that children climbed, with a little help from fire chief Blaine Becker, into the hands of a fire officer.

Outside the trailer, there were leaflets on smoke alarms, kitchen and cooking safety, and charging batteries safely.

The fire-safety training took place over two days last week.

Among the many questions it answered were:  Does your family have a muster point and escape route in case your home catches fire? Should you keep your bedroom door open or closed while sleeping?

When the News-Times was present, some students knew where their muster point is at their homes and the bedroom door should be closed while sleeping.

Other important lessons included:

• With a pot fire in the kitchen, use a blanket to starve the flames of oxygen, and a fire extinguisher;
• In a bedroom fire, keep your door closed, as this will limit the spread of smoke and provide extra time for escape, and don’t leave the window open, as this will generate a current of air to oxygenate the fire. You should also seal the door with a towel or blanket. The window should provide an escape route.
• With a fuse box fire, cut off the electricity, if safe to do so. Then evacuate the premises and call 911; and
• As water is a conductor of electricity, do not use it to put out an electrical fire.