Wantagh Students, Fire Department Assemble For Fire Safety

WANTAGH, N.Y. — The Wantagh Fire Department visited Wantagh Elementary School Friday to teach students about fire safety in a pair of assemblies.

The assemblies, broken down into grades K to 2 and 3 to 5, featured instruction on changing smoke detector batteries, closing bedroom doors at night and preparing escape routes in case of emergency.

Wantagh Elementary Principal Dr. Randee Bonagura ended the assemblies by prompting students to bring what they had learned home, discussing fire safety with their families to ensure their homes’ preparation for an emergency.

For fourth and fifth graders, the assembly was complete with a visit to "the smokehouse," a fire department safety trailer where the students took part in a simulated emergency escape exercise. The exercise included filling the trailer with fake smoke, allowing each student to get out of a bed at the sound of a smoke alarm, crawl to the trailer door, feel if it was hot or not, then walk to a window where a member of the fire department escorted them out of the trailer.