Fire Safety Trailer

The Fire Safety Trailer that is housed at the Kimberton Fire Company belongs to the Northern Chester County Fire Chief's Association and was made possible by a donation from the Phoenixville Community Health Foundation.

The trailer is used to teach topics such as :

• Dial 911
• Stop, Drop, and Roll
• Know two ways out!
• Recognizing safety hazards around the house
• Fire safety in the kitchen
• Crawl Low in Smoke
• and much more!

The trailer is divided into 3 separate completely furnished rooms.

The first room is the kitchen, where household kitchen safety is taught. The kitchen is equipped with stove/oven and microwave and allows the instructor the ability to teach in a kitchen environment.

The next room is the living room. The living room is equipped with a fire place (for teaching fireplace safety), a telephone for teaching 9-1-1 procedures, working smoke detector and allows space for other coverage topics.

The final room is the bedroom. This is the room the children enjoy the most. The room is equipped with a bed, smoke detector, and a door that actually gets warm. The warm door allows the instructor the ability to actually teach how to test a door to see if fire lurks on the other side. This room (as can all others) can be filled with an artificial smoke. (Although it's a very safe smoke it might be wise to avoid this if your child is a severe asthmatic). The group is brought into the room and simulates going to bed. The room then begins to fill with smoke and the smoke detector activates. The group must properly check the door for heat, and when they find it warm must crawl to a secondary exit point. This is usually the exit door or slide open rear window. Children love to climb out the window and be assisted to the ground by the firefighters. Safety mats are on the ground in case of a slip or fall from the ladder.

The trailer is handicapped accessible. Other capabilities are that outsiders can watch individual rooms on closed circuit camera via a TV set built into the outside of the trailer.

The average lesson plan usually requires 5-10 minutes per room. Figure on about half an hour to properly go through the safety trailer. We ask that specialty groups have at least 10 children to their group. The trailer takes the fire department a lot of time to prepare and put away after usage so please consider this when trying to schedule. Also because we share this unit with many other departments it must be booked in advance to insure its availability. This trailer is also available for events off the KFC grounds but must be rented by the organization requesting it. There is no charge for local groups who wish to use this as part of a program done at the fire station.

How can you have the Fire Safety Trailer visit your neighborhood or event?

If you are a resident served by the Kimberton Fire Co., you can contact the fire chief.

If you are a resident of area served by the following fire companies, please contact your local fire company: Elverson, Norco, Ludwig's Corner, Spring City, Ridge, Phoenixville, Valley Forge, Mont Clair, Royersford, Limerick, East Whiteland and West Whiteland. The trailer is free for these areas although donations are always gratefully accepted. The trailer can go out of the area for a service fee of $200.00. The trailer is often booked months in advance, so please contact your fire chief as early as possible. The month of October is generally very heavily booked due to fire prevention week activities.