By David Rosen

The Seattle Fire Department has partnered with the Seattle Public Library for a reading program aimed at increasing literacy, and raising awareness of home fire safety.

On October 16, Seattle Fire Chief Gregory Dean read the book called “No Dragons for Tea” to dozens of preschool children at the High Point Branch of the Seattle Public Library . The event was part of October’s Fire Prevention Month. Children were given safety messages from the firefighters such as “Firefighters are your friend”, “Crawl low under smoke” and “Get out and stay out”.

Gregory Dean spoke to the West Seattle Herald, “ This is fire prevention month and we believe its a great opportunity to reach out to the kids, we work in production with the Seattle Public Libraries and we go in there, I read a story, but we also have the firefighters come in and do a “show and tell” and give the kids an opportunity to interact with firefighters so that should something happen they aren’t afraid of them and that is why we have the firefighters crawl on the floor with their gear on and then we take the kids outside to check out the fire truck. It’s an opportunity for them to learn and it gives us an opportunity for us to give back to the communities and be involved with them.”

For more than a decade, Seattle Firefighters have volunteered for literacy events at various Seattle Public Library’s and Seattle Public Schools. The Firefighter Story Times are part of a month long push to educate the young people of the city and their families on fire safety tips. Preschool children are especially vulnerable to fire and burn injuries.

During the month of October, Seattle Firefighters are reading to preschoolers at 10 different libraries throughout the city.