OJAI : Students Complete Fire Marshal Course

Protective yellow moon suits and thin-shelled helicopters amazed junior fire marshals at their graduation picnic Monday on the shores of Lake Casitas.

Sirens wailed and heartbeats were monitored as about 500 excited children from Ojai Valley schools learned how firefighters do more than put out fires.

“If they don’t know what chemical is in the air, they got nine different, airtight suits to wear,” Beau Schmidt, 10, of Oak Grove School said about Ventura County’s Hazardous Incidents Response Team.

“I never knew you could dent a helicopter by hitting it with your hand,” his classmate David Steel said. “And the blades are so big they can knock your head off.”

Maya Pauling, 10, of Summit Elementary School said she was intrigued at her first look at “all the shelves and bandages” neatly organized in an Ojai ambulance.

More than 30 firefighters, pilots and paramedics proudly displayed their high-tech tools Monday morning before the youngsters gobbled hot dogs and said goodby to Smokey the Bear and Buddy, an arson dog who sniffs out flammable liquids for the county Fire Department.

The three-hour exhibition ended when a helicopter dropped a load of water onto the shore near the children.

About 7,000 fourth-grade pupils in public and private schools throughout Ventura County receive the Junior Fire Marshal training each spring. In its 20th year, the program begins in March when county firefighters enter the classroom with workbooks and personal experiences to teach fire safety.

The children must inspect their own homes, map escape routes and carry out fire drills with their families before they can receive their plastic fire marshal badges.

The picnic is a special treat for those in the Ojai area, said program coordinator Chuck Butler of the county Fire Department. It began six years ago and “it’s been hard to stop,” he said. “It’s the grand finale, and they really look forward to it.”

The county chapter of the California Burn Foundation helps pay the tab, Butler said.