NEAFC 31st Annual Conference.pdf - New England Association of ...

NEW ENGLAND ASSOCIATION OF FIRE CHIEFS
They must be brought up to date with local conditions with the idiosyncrasies of
people, so they know how to handle themselves and adjust a claim without friction as
quickly as possible. .. ~ =
CHAIRMAN ERSKINE: You might ~ be interested in ’knowing how the price list was
operated. The committee o,f two ,building adjusters from Boston had made up the
format for this price list. In other words, they had’, it entirely completed with the
exception of the insertion of prices. On Wednesday following the storm, they worked
all day in’ Boston inserting prices. Thursday they went to Worcester and worked from
morning until late at night with contractors. Friday,. that list was printed and in
circulation. -
’CHIEF SCANLON, Lynn" My question is" should demonstrations be used by firemen
in speaking to children?
CHAIRMAN E._RSKINE : I am ,going _to transfer this to Mrs. Curley.
MRS. CUR~.v.Y: Bein,g a woman, ~,f course, I like to talk. I am very sure that demonstrations
should be usedi, as far as they can be used in speaking to children. Every
day we learn that what the child can see in the matter of visual education carries more
weight than when he listens to words or reads them from books, and b~cause I am a
firm believer in demonstration, I brought along this book, published bythe National
Fire Protection Association, andl it says: "Selected Demonstraii~n~ for Use" in Fire
Safety Education," and I think some of these would be very valuable for’sor~e of your
men to have ; .-that is, a man who could h~ndle such a thing in setting "it ’up on a stage
and showing children what actually happened in cases of fire and how it could be
put out. It costs 3Y cents--and is well worth the price. I have used some of those
demonstratic,ns and I fin,d them very effective.
CHAIRMAN ERSKINE: As a raatter of fact, if I remember’ this booklet, they have
stolen most of your thunder.
MRS. CURL~.Y: Mcstly.
MR. GUN>r: Mrs. Curley, I notice you have the first and second graders in this
pamphlet. I have talked to thousands of children, and I have been trying to drop it
down and get out of it, but they want to bring the younger children in and~ they don’t
comprehend what these gentlemen will try to demonstrate to them, and all they are
looking for is another piece of fireworks to go up here and there.
Today there are so many chemical sets that are sold, our younger generation likes
to play with them and they get burned, and by bringing in these younger children I
have found it doesn’t pay to talk to a too-young grade of child. When you get to
junior high, or the high schools, it will’ register and~ be carried home. The younger
generation should not be shown how to. start a fire.
MRS. CURLEY: Are you going to wait until they get to junior high and high
school before you begin any fire-safety education? Let’s see what it does say for
first graders in here. On page 282 it says: "Try in the first grade to teach children
appreciation of the contribution to safety and health, made by the workers in the
community." Now the fireman in talking to first and second,grade children would not
use the same technique used in talking to older children. He might perform a simple
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