It takes seconds nowadays for fire to spread beyond control, something students learned firsthand from the Oneida Fire Department.
For the past few days, the Oneida Fire Department has been teaching fire safety to students at Otto Shortell Middle School, a cohort that Deputy Chief Timothy Cowan said the fire department had neglected.
“We do really good at the elementary levels, at first, second and third grades. But we miss the middle schoolers. These are the kids that are home now, cooking meals for themselves, siblings or starting it for their parents,” Cowan said. “With kitchen fires and cooking being the leading cause of residential fires, its important to show them.”
Sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students at OSMS were taught first-hand how to properly use a fire extinguisher and to put out a grease fire on a kitchen stove.