Fire safety just got a lot more interactive at the Spring Valley Fire Protection District.
Josh Swietek, the fire prevention officer with the Spring Valley Fire Protection District, hopes the new inflatable fire safety training house can help children and local residents.
“Anytime we as a department can change the way a child sees fire hazards, that will make a difference for us,” he said. “Fire prevention should be a year-round thing, and this is going to help us with making that a reality.”
The 29-foot-long by 15-foot-deep by 17-foot-tall inflatable house is going to be used at community events, school presentations, pop-up public events, and more to help residents engage in fire safety and prepare for real emergencies
“Whatever we’re doing, it’s just going to start popping up with us across the board,” the three-year fire prevention officer, Swietek, said.
Prior to the arrival of the inflatable fire safety house, Swietek said that the Spring Valley Fire Protection District relied on PowerPoints and videos to educate students and residents on fire safety and exit strategies, but now it is much more interactive.
“Being able to walk through this house can actually make it real for the participants,” he said. “In addition to looking at words on a screen, now they can go, ‘Hey, I’ve got a window like this to get out of,’ or something like that that actually puts it into perspective.”
Swietek said that he got the idea for a new fire safety house for Spring Valley when the department borrowed a similar inflatable from Chief Ben Brown at the Utica Fire Department.
“It really worked out well for us, so after a couple months of research and really going into depth on what we would want in a house, we finally came to the decision on one, and we ordered one,” he said. “We are very grateful with our fundraisers for making us able to make this purchase.”
Swietek credits the ‘Music on Main’ and District Smoker fundraisers for helping to bridge the gap between the allotted volunteer fire prevention budget and how much it cost to purchase the inflatable fire safety house.
He said that the district wants to pay it forward with their interactive experience, as the Utica Fire Department did for them.
“We’re of course going to work in our district, but we’re also going to start looking into speaking with Ladd Fire, DePue Fire and some of the other smaller schools in our county,” he said. “I have the idea of more of our departments coming together. I think it’s something that we can do for the educational purposes of smaller departments like Ladd, Cherry, DePue, LaMoille, and so on.”
The new inflatable fire safety house will be prevalent in the Spring Valley community, featured at events like Fire Prevention Week in October, the National Night Out, Easter egg hunts, the downtown Spring Valley carnivals, school presentations, and more.