Local services
The Debrecen-based DETKA Training Ltd., which trains airport firefighters, has recently established a volunteer firefighters’ association, which organised an interesting activity for children as part of its youth program on Sunday, the 2nd of June 2024.
The event was not without precedent, as on the 4th of May, on the day of the patron saint of firefighters, St. Florian, the Day of Hungarian Firefighters, a demonstration for young people was organised this year, with the aim of giving them emergency knowledge and showing them the work of firefighters as a career model. The children were then able to see the fire engine, get into firefighter uniforms, and after a short training session, and under the close professional supervision of adults, they were able to try out some of the firefighters’ skills, hold a syringe to a fire and put out the fire themselves.
On the 2nd of June, a similar programme took place at the DETKA training room and practice field near Debrecen airport. The children could listen to a presentation on the importance of emergency calls, could see how firefighters put on their emergency clothing in case of an alarm, learned about personal protective equipment, communication tools and the thermal imaging camera. Then, on the training ground, they learned how to communicate in confined spaces with poor visibility, watched a life-saving demonstration, practised rescuing stuffed animals and carried out a thermal imaging search on the board of a model aircraft.
The event was exciting, adventurous and at the same time taught children to be serious and responsible, and almost none of the twenty boys and girls, aged between 2,5 and 18, who took part in the Youth programme were absent. The event was also attended by municipal representative Erzsébet Katona who said that she considered it very important to educate young people, to prepare them to call for help in dangerous situations and to deal with them. As she recalled, one of the points made at the recent event was that “ in the United States, 1,500 children are saved every year because they are trained to report emergencies, not only fires, but also, for example, when their parents are unwell or in other situations where they are unable to call for help because of their condition”. After seeing the youth programme of the DETKA volunteer firefighters’ association, Erzsébet Katona plans to invite large groups of kindergarten children in her constituency to such a demonstration.
Source:debrecen.hu
