About a week ago I took Nashe and his best mate to the fire station. We had a fantastic time.

They showed all the really fab stuff they keep in the fire engine, they really have thought of everything! They have massive tools to break into houses and cut the tops of cars. Lots of different size blocks to steady vehicles when they need to cut people out of them, many many hoses.

They have different fire engines for different situations, one with a massive crane. We looked for the white glow of peoples heat, through the awesome thermal camera.

We had a tour of the station. This is the machine where all the information regarding the 999 call comes in, with a whole lot of noise too…

Nashe’s mate really wanted to slide down the firemans pole! We didn’t to, but we did find it 🙂We learnt a load of really interesting and useful facts and information. Here’s some of them…

Did you know firefighters can only spend 20 minutes in a burning building before they get too hot?

It only takes two breaths of smoke before you will be unconscious. If you are in a room that’s filling up with smoke then your best chance is to get down low.

Keeping your bedroom doors closed at night means that if there is a fire less smoke will get into your room, giving you more time to escape/get help.

If you are on fire. STOP. DROP and ROLL.

Have at least 2 fire alarms in your house. One in the hall way downstairs and one at the top of the stairs.

Testing fire alarms once a week. (Testing Tuesdays) or (put the bins out and test the alarm)

Plan your escape route and would you be able to find your keys?

More vital information about fire safety can be found on the Fire Safe website.

Firefighters do some really amazing work. Sharing all about fire safety with families and children is just as important as the actual work of fighting fires. It really made me think of what I need to teach my children so that they are safe and also so they know what to do in an emergency. Simple things like knowing how to phone 999 and knowing what their address is. I say simple but remembering your address and knowing how to phone 999 and having the confidence to speak on the phone is not so straightforward for a four year old. Though I hope my children wont have the need to use these skills.

On a lighter note, Munashe’s favorite part of the Fire Station adventure was definitely using the fire hose.

A big thank you to all at Highgate Fire Station for allowing us to visit.