Emergency groups focus on fire safety during fair

Osceola firefighters educated the public on what to do during a fire during their 16th annual Fire Fair.

As part of the day, local emergency organizations demonstrated how to correctly use a fire extinguisher, how to put out a grease fire and what it’s like to be in a smoke-filled room.

For the first time, the event featured the Blank Children’s Hospital Fire Safety House. A firefighter said the trailer can be hard to get and the department requested it several months in advance.

Children went through three rooms where they learned fire safety essentials, including how to smother a grease fire with a lid or pan. Firefighters then filled up the room with fake smoke and showed children how to crawl to safety.

The fire department will get their chance to conduct their own demonstration when they use a house at 101 N. Lincoln St. for a controlled burn. The house was already scheduled to be demolished. City Administrator Bill Kelly said the control burn will reduce the amount of garbage taken to the landfill.

The training will help prepare firefighters for more dangerous situations.

“If you’re actually in the house, it’s a lot more real,” volunteer firefighter Bill Ogbourne said. “Then you know what it feels like and smells like.”

The last house the department used for a controlled burn was located on Ayers Street about a year ago and they can burn up to two houses a year for training, Ogbourne said.

Ogbourne said throughout the year, the Osceola volunteer firefighters respond to 124 calls, depending on the amount of grass fires. The majority of those calls are for alarms and accidents. Volunteers put in about 400 hours a year for the department.