Search and Rescue Dogs

This week was exciting.  We had a visit from Mr Kent Olson from Northwest Disaster Search Dogs.  Mr Olson brought his 3-year-old golden retriever, Guinness. Guinness is a special dog.  Mr. Olson went all the way to Wisconsin to find him as a puppy.  He trained him to work in cities that have experienced disasters.  Guinness' job is to search the rubble for people that are trapped.  He can crawl over and under obstacles to find people and he barks to let the rescue workers know there is someone there who needs help.  His sense of smell is 70,000 times more sensitive than a human's.  Amazing.  When Guinness isn't working, he loves to play--especially with his chew toy and with kids.  We had a lot of fun playing with Guinness.  Thanks to Mr Olson for sharing with us.

Guiness is very strong.

Mr Kent Olson and Guiness

For more info on Northwest Search and Rescue Dogs, go here.

Field Trip to Edgewood Fire Station

We had a great time this week at the Edgewood Fire Station.  Firefighter Jen and Lieutenant Dan explained some things about fire safety to us.  We learned how to Stop-Drop-and Roll if our clothes catch on fire.  We also got to see Firefighter Jen dress up in her gear.  She wasn't scary at all. We learned that if our house in on fire, we should yell, "Here I am" and crawl to a firefighter if we can.  We even got to rescue Firefighter Jen when they attached a rope to her and we pulled her across the room.  We got a tour of the station and saw the kitchen, living room, and bedrooms in the station.  We also got to see the fire engines and even sit in the driver's seat and turn on the flashing lights. We really enjoyed our trip and had a fun time with the firefighters.

Next week we will be visited at the church by Search and Rescue Dogs.  That should be exciting.

Practicing Stop, Drop, and Roll

Rescuing Firefighter Jen (with Lieutenant Dan helping)

What happens when the sun comes out in Seattle.

Firefighters

This week we prepared for our trip to the fire station by learning more about what firefighters do and about fire safety.  We read a book about Max' trip to the fire station and are excited to see if our fire station is the same.  We also learned about fire drills and we are prepared to practice our fire drill when the time comes.  We did a fire safety scavenger hunt and found four of the six things on our list: exit signs, smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, and a fire hydrant.  The children are going to look for the other two items when they are out in public this week: sprinklers and a fire alarm.

Next week is our field trip to the fire station in Edgewood.  Please be on time and bring your permission slip. (I have Julian's and Mark's.)  I still need another volunteer to come with us (or we may not have room for all the kids.)  We will be back by noon, so no need to pack a separate lunch for the children.