Trailer is loaded ... and will save lives
By TIM GULLA Ledger Staff Writer tim@gaffneyledger.com

Ledger photo / SCOTT POWELL Marcus Reeder, 5, climbs out of a "smoke house" Saturday morning with the help of Buffalo Volunteer Fire Department Firefighter Timothy Moss. The new fire trailer was recently purchased by the Cherokee County Fire Chiefs Association to educate children about fire safety.

It might not look like much from the outside, but the Cherokee County Fire Chiefs Association's new trailer might be considered fully loaded.

It has a television, a DVD player and even a kitchen sink. But if that's not enough, it also comes with its own smoke machine and can simulate lightning.

A mobile classroom that will be used to teach school children throughout Cherokee County about fire and storm safety, the purchase of the $45,000 trailer was made possible through a grant from The Timken Foundation.

"It's going to be a big asset to the community, and to the whole county really," said Josh Parker, head of the Cherokee County Fire Chiefs Association.

Members of the association and the Cherokee County Fire Safety Team set up the mobile classroom outside Wal- Mart on West Floyd Baker Boulevard on Friday and Saturday to start showing it off to the public.

Cherokee County Fire Safety team co-founder Eddie Bishop gets a donation Saturday morning during a boot drive to purchase equipment for a new "smoke house." Firefighters plan to start fire prevention education programs in local schools in early 2008.

"We'll teach kids the basics (of fire safety)," said Eddie Bishop, a Blacksburg firefighter and a co-founder of the Cherokee County Fire Safety Team. "Get low. Get out. And have a fire plan."

Key to a fire plan is that families and children should know where they would meet in the event of a fire, as well as how to call emergency personnel.

While giving a tour, Bishop explained how the trailer can accommodate large groups of children in rows of banked seating at one end. At the other end of the trailer is an enclosed room where a hidden operator can control a smoke machine, fire alarms and lighting to safely simulate what a home would be like if it caught on fire.

The trailer operator can also simulate severe weather conditions, such as a lightning storm, with the use of strobe lights attached to the ceiling of the trailer.

Before obtaining their own mobile classroom, the association and the Fire Safety Team had to borrow one from the state.

While nicely equipped, Bishop said the association still needs several more pieces of equipment for the trailer, namely a generator for power, an awning for the exterior, and a dedicated truck to tow it.

A boot drive was held Friday and Saturday to help raise funds for the equipment. About $500 was raised, Parker said.

School children will begin seeing the trailer early in 2008. Parker said the Fire Chiefs Association also will make its educational program available to churches and civic groups.