Malta Schools treated to safety presentations

Last week the three schools in Malta were shown demonstrations by the Phillips County and Malta City Volunteer Fire Departments as part of Fire Prevention week. On Thursday, the middle and high school students were shown a car ripped apart by the Jaws of Life and were asked to not text and drive. On Friday at Malta Elementary School, three different groups of students were shown similar demonstrations and the "oohs" and "aahs" followed each piece of glass broken and each piece of metal cut into.

Assistant City and County Fire Chief Matt Veit told the second and third grade students that thought they aren't yet old enough to drive there are precautions they can take to ensure their own safety as well as that of their families.

"Statistics show that a lot of vehicle accidents happen in town with people going 25 miles or less," he said. "A lot of the times it happens when people are texting on their cell phones while they are driving. So, if your parents, or your brothers and sisters are texting while they are driving you have to tell them not to do that and they need to be paying attention.

Veit told the students that when they arrive at school to be dropped off that they ask their parents to drop them off so that they step out of the car and onto the sidewalk in front of school.

"That way you don't have a chance to be hit by a passing car," he said.

Hold the children that if they walk or bike to school that they be alert because often times drivers are not.

"Especially on Central (Ave.)," Veit said. "You children are supposed to have the right away, but a lot of drivers don't pay attention and I have seen a lot of little kids who don't stop and they just scoot right across the street on their bike."

Viet told the students that when they get in the car with their parents in the morning to make sure that their parents have scraped the ice off all the windows of their vehicles before they start driving.

Following a demonstration in which the fire crew pried open the doors of a minivan, popped all the windows out of the vehicle and cut through the vehicles' windshield with a saw, Veit answered about 20 questions that students had come up with. Later in the day, the fire crew barbecued hamburgers – with the onions of course – and concluded Fire Prevention week.