Herald Neighbors

Junior firefighters spend day with volunteer firemen

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ayview Avenue School, third grader, Dylan Marin impatiently fidgeted as his father, Luis Marin, clasped the last button on his junior fireman turnout coat while visiting the Nassau County Firefighters Museum and Education Center in Garden City for the International Firefighters Luncheon on May 31.

Once he had his coat secured he threw on his fireman helmet and joined his classmates to play around the kid-friendly fire exhibit at the museum. The entire third grade class at Bayview Avenue School has been participating in a year- round program, “Hooked on Firefighters”, to learn about fire safety and prevention. The volunteer firemen of the Freeport Fire Department host the program annually. This year marks the 12th year of the program.

The executive director of the Freeport Fire Department, Ray Maguire says part of the success of the program has been a continual relationship with the Freeport Board of Education, Bayview Avenue School and the commitment of the volunteer firefighters. At the start of the school year, each third grade class at Bayview gets assigned a firefighter and visits the class periodically. After receiving full comprehensive classroom lessons the students spent a day performing skits and singing songs for the Freeport firefighters during the luncheon.

“We’re teaching them fire safety throughout the year and having them [perform] these skits and [songs] showing what they learn makes our hears fill up,” said Mark Suparich, Ex-Chief of the FFD.