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Pope Fire Department visits Manchester Elementary School

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Chris Hoyler
  • 43rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs
POPE AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. --  Four members of Pope's 43rd Civil Engineer Squadron's Fire Department visited Manchester Elementary School Feb. 5 to talk about their jobs.

Kurt Rhodes, Ted Alff, Airman 1st Class Wendell Washington-Flournoy and Senior Airman Matthew Florez talked to about 50 students, and Airman Washington-Flournoy donned the fire fighting gear and let each class get an up-close look.

Katrina Clary, a first grade teacher at the school, organized the visit because her students were studying leaders in their community. While teaching some of the lessons, she found out that some students were afraid of firefighters while they wore their gear, so she spoke with Mr. Rhodes, who agreed to bring a crew out.

"I thought that it would be a wonderful experience for the students to meet and see them in person so that they would know who they were and that they should never be afraid of them," Ms. Clary said.

"Having the Pope Fire Department served a dual purpose. The students got to see the firefighters and the men in their Air Force uniforms to see both sides of their occupation. Both are huge community leaders especially in this area."

Senior Airman Florez said that he has given many tours of the fire department at Pope to children before, and that he would like to make other school visits.

"My favorite part of the visit was seeing the kids' reaction when Airman Washington-Flournoy was bunkered out," Airman Florez said.

The firefighters also handed out calendars, crayons, stickers and fire fighter badges to each class.

"They all thought it was very cool and fun," Ms. Clary said. "Each one of my students wanted me to pin their badge on them before they left school for the day."

"It felt really good to go out and show the kids the work we do," Airman Florez said. "As a parent, it is nice to know that fire department personnel still make the effort to go out and teach children fire safety."

Ms. Clary added that she would love to do an event like this again, and possibly add a few demonstrations with the fire engines and all its components.

"We are hoping that we can make this an annual event for the first grade students at Manchester so that we can continue to help the students understand who the leaders of the community are and how and why they help us," Ms. Clary said.