Saginaw firefighters call a new education program for youngsters a great success. Lieutenant Aileen Pettinger says the program focused on 2nd and 3rd graders at four of the city’s elementary schools.

Firefighters visited each of the 64 students homes and taught fire safety to the whole family. One important lesson was the need for a fire drill in the home so every one knows what to do in case of a fire. While at the homes firefighters installed 303 smoke detectors and 24 carbon monoxide alarms. The program was able to provide one student, who is legally blind and deaf, a bed shaker, to wake him up when a smoke detector goes off.

The Saginaw Fire Department was the only department in Michigan participating in the “Sound Off” program. Saginaw also had the best results among the 40 fire departments using the program in the country.

Fire Chief Chris VanLoo told Saginaw School trustees Wednesday, September 11th, if grant funds were available, the department would like to expand the program to other elementary schools in the district.