I am posting this to make the people of Oberlin aware of a situation that is going on here and in the area of Allen Parish Fire District 5. I am the Fire Chief for this area; as well as a parent, who has children that fall under what I a going to be discussing and posting about. The people and parents of the community that my Fire Dept protects should be made aware of this. Tomorrow starting at 8:30am and ending at 2pm. Oberlin Elementary school will be conducting Fire Prevention Safety for grades K-3rd. Now in the past we have done this for the school grades Pre-k through 2. This year when I approached the leadership at the school, they only wanted us to conduct a program for Pre-k through 1st grade. We WERE suppose to do this on October 11, 2013. Fire Prevention was being held on October 6 - October 12 this year. We conducted our program for the Head Start on that Monday, October 7, 2013; and was given almost a 2 hour block of time to conduct Fire Prevention and Safety for two Head start classes. We WERE NOT ABLE TO HOLD THE PROGRAM FOR THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL because the the leadership of this school forgot that our department was going to need a multimedia projector so we could show our video on it. As well as, our Fire Dept was noly alloted a 45 minute time period to conduct our program to the children. Because THE LEADERSHIP 0F OBERLIN ELEMENTARY didnt remember that we were needing this key piece of equipment, we were told to reschedule for a later date. After making several attempts to contact the leadership of this school, AND NOT GETTING A RESPONSE BACK, today I find out that a DIFFERENT DEPARTMENT FROM A DIFFERENT PARISH, is coming in to handle the Fire Prevention Program for the school. All because a faculty members husband works for this Fire Department. Now let me say this again, I DID NOT FIND THIS OUT TILL TODAY. THE PROGRAM IS TOMORROW. Now please dont think that I am upset that this department is doing this for us to help us out. I AM NOT UPSET AT THIS DEPARTMENT. I AM VERY THANKFUL FOR THEM DOING THIS. What I am upset about is this: 1. Our department is strictly volunteer only. 2. That by this happening it could affect the people of Oberlin and Allen Parish District 5, by messing with the Property Insurance Rating. 3. My firefighters took off from their personal jobs or lost sleep(due to working night shift) to come help out back on the 11th. 4. The total lack of respect to our department and to my firefighters. 6. That they couldnt take the time to set up a time and date, WHEN THEY ARE THE ONES THAT WANTED TO RESCHEDULE. Now, some may be wondering why I am upset at these items. Well the 3 biggest ones are: That the Fire Rating that our department receives determines how much your property insurance will be yearly. We were last rated back in 2011. Some may have noticed that their insurance went up. By us conducting yearly Fire Safety Programs, it affects a part of this rating. Now by this outside department coming and conducting this program, they will receive part of that credit that we should be fully receiving. The second reason I am upset is that we are strictly volunteer based. Our firefighters drop everything they are doing at times to come and help protect this community from fire and even help in medical emergencies during their time off from work. They didnt have to take the time off for this program. They could have left it up to me. But, they care about their community and the children in it, to take that time out of their life and away from their personal jobs. And the third reason I am upset, I wish our department or even our parish had a Fire Prevention and Safety Trailer. I wish we could conduct a program to all the students of Oberlin Elementary and High School. But, because we dont have a key asset like that, we are only able to present a program to the younger children. I wish as a department and as a parish we could present a program to grades Pre-k through 12. Because every child, young or old, should know proper Fire Prevention. Now as a parent, this bothers me that the school is being so disrespectful to our home town heros. As well as, the other day, the schools fire alarms went off and it wasnt a fire drill. It was just a faulty alarm going off. But, when a class of elementary students and the teacher were smelling smoke, the leadership got upset because the teacher kept the students out of the class. I applaud this teacher. She kept the students calm and had the well being of the students in mind. The leadership at the school shouldnt have got mad because she was acting in the right way. If you agree with this or feel concerned about what is going on. You can contact the Fire Department at 337-639-4228, leave a message and I will call you back to discuss this more. Also please make the school board aware of this if it bothers you. Our children need to be defended and taken care of properly.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 02:29:17 +0000
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