ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
Student Leakhana Ngeth and art teacher Angeliki Russell react during the Lynn Fire Department safety recognition awards ceremony.
By BRIDGET TURCOTTE
LYNN — Lynn students are doing their part to extinguish a burning problem in the city.
The Lynn Fire Department and Lynn Public Schools collaborate annually to hold a poster contest with a fire safety theme. This year’s competition was focused on the importance of checking your fire alarms and changing them every decade.
Every year, far too many people are injured or killed as a result of a fire that could have been prevented, said Deputy Fire Chief Stephen Archer.
“Many of these injuries and deaths could have been prevented by having working smoke detectors,” he said.
Out of more than 5,000 entries, nine were declared contest winners; three elementary, three middle and three high school students. The three first-place posters have been transformed into billboards and are on display in Wyoma Square.
“The project is good because it gets (the kids) thinking about how important it is to make sure their smoke detectors are working,” said Sarah Gilberg, a Lynn English High School senior who took third place. “A fire can really destroy everything.”
Soleil Chea, a fourth-grader at Brickett Elementary School and second-place winner, said her interest in art grew when she was in the first grade and her favorite style is abstract.
“It’s pretty honoring to be on a billboard,” Chea said. “It was really fun. It’s important because if you don’t check your alarms it can be very dangerous.”
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The competition is a continuation of a project first funded three years ago by a federal grant. More than $295,000 from the U.S. Fire Administration allowed firefighters to install about 5,000 smoke alarms in 1,700 homes
Earlier this year, Dean Foods, also known as Garelick Farms Lynn, made a $10,000 donation to further the initiative, which is spearheaded by Lt. Israel Gonzalez from the Fire Prevention Division.
The money funded the purchase and installation of about 100 alarms in the homes of Lynn Public School students. It also pays for firefighters to visit the children’s homes and talk to families about fire safety and prevention, cooking safety, electrical hazards and other common fire causes like candles and dryers.
The average two-family home should have seven detectors, and single-family homes should have three to four smoke detectors, he said. Many low-income households lack the devices all together, and others have alarms that have far exceeded their 10-year expected lifespan. Recent models have a built-in battery that can’t be changed out, to help ensure the devices are replaced often.
“I’m so pleased,” said Gonzalez. “We get to see so many entries. The fire prevention message is getting into students’ homes.”
State Fire Marshal Peter J. Ostroskey commended the fire department, public schools and Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy’s office for their collaboration on the project.
“To put forward such an important message is such a great thing,” Ostroskey said. “It’s a great thing for the students and it’s a great thing that they bring that message home and spread the word.”
Each of the nine winners were presented with a citation from the Fire Marshal’s office, another from the city and a new iPad.
Bridget Turcotte can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @BridgetTurcotte.
