Okay. Hello everybody. >> I'd like to thank you for having us. My name is Captain Gorman and I brought with me firefighter Morath, firefighter Rivalry, and firefighter Melinger to help me along with this. Um, the reason we're here today is we're here to
represent the Edison Fire Department and discuss uh a little bit about fire safety, fire prevention. U we're not going to go into too great a detail. Uh, but it is fire prevention month and I'm sure your teachers have gone over everything with you with regards to the
basics. But we're just here to kind of touch up some loose ends and maybe give you some more suggestions. And what we're going to do as I go through this process is we're also going to show you some of the equipment because you guys are the older kids in the school. So, I'm sure you're a little bit more inquisitive and maybe even have some
questions that you'd like to ask us and we'd be more than happy to um to answer any of those questions for you guys. But first of all and most importantly, who's happy they're not in class right now? >> That Yeah, pay raising. Good. Good for you. That's my little opening joke. Okay, I'll stop there. Anyway, so why
we're here, like I said, is fire prevention. And although fire brings us many, many positive things in society. It also could be very dangerous, right? And we have to be very careful with how we use it. And specifically with regards
to kids, I understand it could be intriguing. Um, it could it could maybe want you to try to play with matches or play with a lighter, see what happens if I light something on fire or not, but believe me, it is extremely extremely
dangerous, right? I know um candles is something that has really been something that a lot of people use. My wife really enjoys candles. Honestly, I'm not a big fan, but there's nothing wrong with them provided they're placed in the right
spot, right? And we make sure before we go to bed, we never leave them unattended in a room if we're not in there. We don't ever place a candle near anything that might be able to catch fire, right? We It's all about awareness and fire safety. Um
although us with the Edison Fire Department, you know, we took an oath to protect life and property and all lives matter. And but I would speak to specifically being a parent and I think anybody who was a parent and or a
caregiver or a relative, the most important thing to us are our children. And that's why we come to you guys here today. Okay? I know um it's very important that I discuss these things with my family. I have older kids now, but when they were very little, I did discuss things with them and I did let
them know the importance of not, you know, playing with matches, playing with a lighter, playing with the stove, anything of that nature. Okay, first and foremost, if there ever was an emergency in the home, do we all know the number that we call to get help?
>> 911. Very good. Very good. Now, I would say this. If things are really bad, I suggest you get out of the house immediately and you call 911 from another location, right? The most important thing is for you guys
to get out of the home. Now, with that, I don't want you to hate me, but I'm going to give you a little bit of homework. Just a little bit. I know your teachers usually give you enough, but I don't always hear it stressed upon the fact that I want you guys to go home and I want you guys to discuss with your
parents or your caregivers, brothers, sisters, grandmothers, aunts, uncles, whoever you live with where is the meeting place going to be if there is an emergency at my house. Okay? As a parent, I want to know when I get
out of the house, I can locate my children in a specific spot so I don't have to worry about them, right? So, it could be a mailbox on the street. It could be a swing set at a neighbor's house. It could be a fire hydrant on the corner. Okay? But if you haven't already
done that, I would strongly suggest, and I I am actually really going to require it. And I'm going to ask your teachers to make a note of it that when they come when you guys come back to school tomorrow, you can all share with them the meeting place that your you and your parents know you have. Okay?
Because as a parent, um I want to know and I'm sure your parents want to know that my children are safe. With that being said, when we exit the home, for no reason at all are we to go back into the house for our favorite toy, to find
a pet, anything of that nature. While we take an oath to protect life and property, I can speak specifically to the men and women in this fire department that we also have a goal to get all your pets out safely. Okay? I consider pets family, right? So, what
I'm trying to pose upon you guys is there is no reason for you guys to go back into that house. Okay. Um, also, because you guys are a little older, we'll kind of take you through some of the steps, some of the things that we do in the fire service. Um, it
can get very involved. There's no need to go into that um level of of of educating you. But most importantly, if for whatever reason, unfortunately, there is a fire in your home and you tend to be still in the house, it's been
studied that kids tend to hide. Okay? And us as firefighters wear a lot of protective equipment to protect us from the environment that we're going into. And to a child and even some adults, it could be rather intimidating and scary.
Okay. So, what I'm going to ask is I'm going to ask firefighter Rivalry Matt to start to put his clothes on, his his protective clothing, okay? So that you guys can see what we want to what we want to get across to you guys is he's still just an average guy just like you or me. But when we do put all this
protective equipment on, specifically the mask and the helmet, and when we talk through the mask with the breathing air on it, it tends to sound distorted. Kind of like a um is there like a Terminator movie kind of you guys know of? I don't even know what what I can relate it to to to the youth of today,
but we want you to just see that if there is an emergency, you are going to hear us entering the home going, "Fire department, fire department, is there anyone in here?" And if you hear that, we want you to scream and yell, "I'm in here. I'm in here." And if and when you do see us, we don't want you to hesitate
to come to us. We will do everything possible to get you guys to safety. Okay? So, hold on, Matt. So now what you're going to see is come on up here buddy if you would please. So what you see here is um he's got his protective pants on and these protective boots
which I'm going to guess most people would expect it to be waterproof but there's actually some cool features to this as well. There is a steel plate that's in the bottom of the boots and on the tip so that if we step on something we don't puncture our foot. There's a lot of protective aspects to it. There's
multiple layers to all this stuff. Okay, that keeps us insulated and safe. So now he's going to put his coat on. Okay. Um and we want to have just about everything covered. So let's let's uh paint this scenario as if there was a
fire in a home. Okay. Um all these things are going to protect us from all the yucky bad stuff that's in that house, right? So everything that we put on has to be covered. Now we also have uh because the environment is very we'll call let's say toxic. Toxic toxic is the
word for it. We also have to have a way to breathe fresh, clean air. Okay. Many people tend to think what's in that tank. I'm gonna actually I'm gonna ask use this as an opportunity to ask a question. Does anybody know what is in that tank that's on his back? Right there, my man.
>> Yes. Yep. You got it. You got the floor. Go ahead. Yep. Okay. Well, almost. Yep. >> Okay. Now, listen. That's a very good answer. Not entirely correct. Everybody tends to think that's what is that what
is in that tank is oxygen. Oxygen actually contributes to fire. So we don't want to bring oxygen into that environment. This is just regular breathing air. Okay? So it's not oxygen. And just so you know, you can turn around, buddy. With everything that is
on the average firefighter, it's been estimated between all the equipment, his helmet, his hood, all those things. And we always are going to carry some type of tool, which my friends in the back will have, and we'll explain them to you. It adds just about 75 pounds, if
not more, to the average firefighter. Okay. So, it it it's it's physically demanding, but it's something that we we we enjoy and we take on, right? So, now, if you would, Matt, he's going to put now still, right? He still would everybody agree he still kind of looks pretty much the same, right? It's still Matt, the same guy, but it's probably
going to change when he puts I'm going to put I'm going to put his air bottle on. Regulator closed. So, we're going to see this is probably when it's going to be one of the more um obvious transformations in him, right? With that mask on, that immediately kind of changes the way he looks. I can
understand why somebody would be intimidated by that, right? That's why we're showing you this because it's still the same guy that is there. And if if ever, God forbid, there is a situation where you have to be in your home and you see one of us and we look like this, you come to us and we will we
will do our best to get you to safety. Okay. Now, if you would, can you guys hear him breathing? Can you hear that sound? >> Yeah. >> Right. Now, that too, right? Just that noise and the environment we're in is probably going to be a little intimidating, right? But that's totally normal. That's just him breathing,
right? So, if you would just say fire department, is there anyone in here? >> Fire department. Is there anyone in here? >> Right. It sounds a little bit like robotic, kind of cool, kind of not, but not normal. This is what hopefully you will never encounter, but this is what a firefighter looks like in all his gear.
So, now what we'll do is we'll start to undress, and you'll see he goes back to the same old guy that he is. Okay. Um, now, uh, with that being said, I'm sure, uh, your teachers have gone over some of
the basics, right? We discussed 911. Um, have you heard the term, I'm sure you all have, stop, drop, and roll, >> right? Stop, drop, and roll. One of the key aspects of that, I don't feel like I need to go over that again. You guys seem all pretty smart on board. But it's
very important that we cover our faces, right, when we stop, drop, and roll, right? We cover our faces as we roll. Also, too, um, I would also suggest, right, everybody should have smoke detectors in the home. Okay? We suggest even though some of them are made to
last much much longer, a lot of them still have batteries uh in their in the the devices. We suggest every six months that you change the batteries in your smoke detectors. So you guys have a real ability to go home and get to speak to
your parents full of knowledge. Ask them some of these questions and you may have the opportunity to ask you actually educate your parents as well. Right? So I'm going to ask this. What is the homework assignment for this evening? >> Yeah, back to with the glasses.
>> Um, >> right. Very good. So, her answer was for those of you that didn't hear, ask your parents for a meeting place. Okay? And know where that meeting place is. And with that being said, I'd like to add one other thing to that. I would strongly suggest it's on the same side of the street that your home is. Okay?
Because when you call 911 for an emergency, you're going to need to get police, you're going to get fire, and you are going to get EMS coming to the location. That means a lot of people rapidly coming there in control are going to be coming down that street. So,
we really wouldn't want to have to worry about any children crossing the street. So, make that meeting place somewhere on the same side of your street. >> So, that's with regards to our safety. Um, I I I would like to open this up if any
of the students have any questions. I'm I'm going to leave it to the teachers uh to pick on their students if they would like. Um, when we're done with that portion, we're going to walk you around the fire engine if you have any questions on what some of the equipment is and material. Uh I mean we really
quite honestly um even when I first got in the fire service I wasn't aware of how uh actually involved you know firefighting actually is. There is a lot of steps toward it. It's it's a lot more than just putting water on fire
and it going out. So it's really really very interesting. Um but you can ask any questions you'd like. We'll show you all the things um and and you know hopefully inform you a little better. Uh so when you leave here today uh you have a better awareness of what's going on. So
teachers, are there any questions that that any of your students might have that you'd like to ask? Okay, so his question was who's designs the firet truck and who builds the fire truck? >> Um, that's actually a good question. So, basically the way the firetruck is
designed is by the township, okay, and the administration, the chiefs and the deputy chiefs. And they're designed specific to the areas that we respond in. Okay? So, we're in more of a residential area. We're not more in like a New York City type with tons of
highrises, uh, lots of mass transit. So, we have our equipment, they call it spec, to what would best suit our interest as a department, if that makes sense. Okay. Every fire engine and every fire truck just about from town to town
to town can be different. Okay. So, um, there actually is an awful lot that's involved in that, but that was a very good question. teachers. >> Okay, very good question. I like this question. Uh, what is a chainsaw used for? Okay, so uh a chainsaw can be used
for many things, but specifically if you'll see the three guys that I have on the end, they're on a different piece of equipment. They're on what is called a truck pump. Okay? And what you see here is a fire engine. There are specific
tasks that each company does separate from the other. So with regards to the guys at the end, they're going to be the ones that most likely you're going to see are using a chains for. Where you're probably going to see that done the most is on the roof of a house. Has anybody ever seen any videos of firefighters on the roof of a house and they're cutting
holes in the roof? Okay. There's a reason for that. We're not just trying to destroy property. actually that is benefiting us. Those guys that are going inside to where it's really nasty. There's heat, there's smoke, and there's toxic chemicals. So, when these guys go
on the roof with that chainsaw, they cut a big 4x4 or an 8x 8 ft hole, and they let all the heat, smoke, and gas goes down the top of the roof. That makes everything inside the house much better. It improves visibility and survivability
and it greatly reduces the temperature inside the hat. That's a that's a very good question. Anybody else? >> Who was asking? I'm sorry. >> My man say ahead and say it again a little louder. >> Who's the chief of the fire department? What's his question? The chief of the
fire department is Andrew Toe. He's the current chief of our fire department. >> Yes. >> I couldn't hear it. >> How many fire trucks do you have? That was the question. That put me on the spot a little bit. Let me count. Well, I know I do know the answer, but we have
plenty of square pieces of equipment. Okay. But we had so we had six firehouses and we have a fire engine within five out of the six of those itself I'm sorry six out of the six of those firehouses one has an additional
engine. So, I'm going to say six, seven, seven fire engines currently. What is all this? Is that a joke? You're making fun of it. It didn't do it. That's okay. I like So, um, but basically there's 70 fire
engines in each of the firehouses that respond on all alarms. We have multiple mechanical equipment. We have multiple rescue trucks which are specific to another task. And then we have two ladder companies which I was referring
to the three guys on the end and I hope that's this being and it's going to come out but either way. So who else? I gotta look the teacher's ass in here. >> Uh, well, okay. So, the question is, what was the dead deadliest scenario
I've been in? Um, I want to answer this um >> correctly. every situation we go through, if somebody's in trouble, it's always a bad
situation. There have been some um that were more severe than others, unfortunately, but not as often as maybe the movies and TV makes it appear. Okay. But at the end of the day, fortunately, for the most
part, everything has worked out for the better. Okay. Um, and each person uh kind of certain things affect others in certain situations. Um, but for the most part, everything at the end of the
day works out for the best and and most often everybody goes home safely. Okay. I hope that kind of answers your question. >> Speak up, my friend. How do we build the air tank? Oh, how do we fill the air tank? Okay, so you're
talking about So the question was how do we fill the air tank? You're talking about the cylinders that are on the back of the firefighters. Okay, so we have a piece of equipment in multiple locations in town that actually we put the bottles, we take the bottles off the pack, we place them in this machine
basically. And what it does is for lack, you know, to make it as basic as possible, sucks the natural air out that we normally breathe in through the machine and fills our bottles to a specific pressure. Okay, very simple, but that's a good question.
>> How long is our shift was his question. So, our shift uh is 24 hours. Okay. So, we are here from 8:00 in the morning till 8 the following morning. Okay. So, if anything happens within that time, you call us and and we're there to
respond. Okay. Are we good with the questions? >> Yep. >> Yep. Any more? Okay. So, uh, what we'll do now is teachers, if if you think, uh, or you would agree with me, it works out best. We can walk the
students around, uh, the fire engine. You could ask any one of our members a question, right? I'm I'm sure there might be a bit of a time crunch, but, we'll leave that up to your teachers. Like I said, we're here for uh, you know, 24 hours, so we have all day long. Um, but you ask anything we want. And
you know, some of the things that you're going to see in here, we have 750 gallons of water on this fire engine. Okay? We have a lot a lot of hose on it. We have ladders, we have saws, we have all sorts of different equipment that allow us to do our job. So, as you walk around, don't be afraid to ask any of
the members a question, and we'll explain it to you as well as possible. So again, please go home, get back to your teachers tomorrow where that meeting place is because it is extremely important to us that you kids are kept
safe. Okay? You guys have really been a great group and I want to thank you for your patience. Um I'm not always the best at this, but uh I hope I I you know got you guys a little more on board in fire safety. Okay. So if you want to just I guess teachers is that uh maybe
the best way, right? You'll that's worth Guys, if you want a gift, take a seat. >> Good job, guys. Good job. >> Thank you. >> All right.