Public Education

The Fire Department has one of the finest public education programs in the southern suburbs.  The broad range of programs offered by our Department is not available through any other department in this area.  The public education staff spends countless hours creating programs that are not only informative and educational, but entertaining for the participants as well. 

School Programs:  The pre-school programs bring important fire safety messages to younger children through the use of puppets, magic and humor.

Our six week Fire Safety Education Program is taught in the 3rd and 4th grade classes at St. Mary's , Talala, Blackhawk and Mohawk schools each school year.  Here students learn the importance of smoke detectors, practicing home fire drills and what to do in an emergency.  Over 300 students are treated to this informative class each year.  Due to personnel shortages, this program unfortunately had to be suspended in 2004.  We are hoping to be able to begin teaching the classes again soon.

Baby-sitter/Latchkey Training:  Another one of our many public education programs is the Baby-sitter/Latchkey Safety Class.  Each summer a week long class is held at the Park Forest Library and covers topics including first aid, fire safety, CPR and severe weather preparedness.

Adult Education:  As a service to area organizations and businesses, the Fire Department also offers classes and lectures for adults on topics including fire safety for seniors, fire extinguisher use, CPR instruction and disaster/severe weather preparedness.

Firestopper:  For many years the Department has been publishing a fire safety newsletter called "Firestopper" which is distributed to all the schools in Park Forest (and a few outside Park Forest) in an effort to reinforce the fire safety messages taught in our classes.  Three issuses are produced each year and highlight safety concerns and issues specific to the time of year or season.  The first issue is distributed in the spring and discusses concerns such as spring-cleaning, tornado awareness and fireworks safety.  Additional issues are prepared in the fall around Halloween time and in the winter during the holiday season.  Each year over 3500 school children receive this informative fire safety newsletter.

Fire Safety Trailer:  Through the efforts of Senator Debbie Halvorson, the Department was awarded a grant in 2001 in the amount of $30,000 toward the purchase of a Fire Safety Trailer.  Because the grant funds were not sufficient for the purchase, the department solicited donations from area businesses and organizations to aid in raising the additional funds needed to obtain the trailer.  Through these efforts, we received over $13,400 in donations and were able to purchase a state of the art Fire Safety Trailer complete with amenities including a kitchen, bedroom, smoke simulator and disaster package to name a few.  We would like to thank the following individuals/organizations for their generous donations ($1500 +) to our project:  Autumn Ridge Apartments, ERA LaGib Realty, Stephen Campbell and family and the Park Forest Firefighters' Association Local 1263.  Without the generousity of all those who contributed, this project would have been far more difficult to complete.