Fire District 5 Hosts Napavine Kindergartners for Fire Safety Program

Lewis County Fire District 5 staff didn’t have to worry about whether the kindergartners visiting from Napavine Elementary School would recognize the Sesame Street characters they were using to help teach fire safety on Tuesday: the kids’ eyes lit up when Elmo, Cookie Monster, Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch appeared in puppet form, 54 years after the show first aired. 

The Sesame Street Fire Safety Program, created by the U.S. Fire Administration and Sesame Workshop to teach fire safety to kids ages 3 to 5, was just one facet of District 5’s program for Napavine Elementary School’s three kindergarten classes who came to visit Tuesday as part of their career week. Kids received tours of an ambulance and a fire engine parked at District 5’s station in Napavine and got up close and personal with a firefighter in full gear. 

The goal of allowing kids to interact with firefighter gear in a controlled setting is to help the kids be more familiar with the equipment so they aren’t afraid of firefighters at the scene of an emergency, District 5 Executive Assistant Carmen Sundin said.