In honor of Fire Prevention Month, local volunteer firefighters reported to Kreamer Street Elementary School in Bellport on Thursday morning.
October 24th, 2024 marked a day of high anticipation; one wherein Fire Prevention Officer Shawn Krulder would deliver a final lecture accompanied by some lesson-fueled visual flair.
After teaching students what to do if a fire breaks out, Krulder and company concluded their visit by setting a couch on fire, before subsequently putting it out.
Former Bellport Fire Department Chief Tony Pino and current Chief Dave DiDio were on hand to assist Krulder with this most noteworthy and simulative demonstration—for which a Bellport fire truck responded in a most timely fashion.
The pair—who have been a part of the department for 34 and 51 years, respectively—spoke with The South Shore Press as an entertained assemblage of toddlers still “ooo-ing” and “ahh-ing” filed back into the building to resume their school day.
“Shawn gave a lecture not just today, but every day about fires, and then we come out here and show them a little live fire, what the firemen wear and things like that,” said Chief DiDio. “They sit. They scream. They learn.”
“It was absolutely a success,” said Pino, who holds the controlled coordination in high regard as an annual rite of passage for native residents to witness.
“Every year it is—the kids love it. I saw the chairs burn when I was in school,” he adds. “All of us did… that was 45 years ago.”
Kreamer Street Principal Seal Clark also assisted the fire department in putting out the fire.
Get out right away. Go to a meeting place. Stop drop and roll—the focal pillars of fire safety that Krulder stressed in his classroom lectures during the week of October 14.
These points of urgency are not just for kids; they are for all.