THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc. DATE: Friday, October 21, 1994 TAG: 9410200181 SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL TYPE: Cover Story SOURCE: BY DAWSON MILLS, CORRESPONDENT LENGTH: Long : 151 lines
IT HAS FEATURES YOU'D FIND in any modern home - a microwave oven in the kitchen, working telephones, stairs leading to a second floor and electrical outlets throughout.
What this ``dream house'' lacks, though, is a permanent address. It's literally built on wheels - a 35- by 10-foot trailer - and is ready to move.
Welcome to ``Kidzshow,'' a miniature two-story house designed to teach children about fire safety. Built by firefighters and other volunteers, the $50,000 house is equipped with a number of customized educational features - a fog generator that produces non-toxic smoke, a door with neon lights to teach evacuation procedures and phones that can place ``911'' emergency calls.
The house was dedicated last Saturday at Lynnhaven Mall to close out the city's observance of Fire Prevention Week and mark the end of four years of community effort to bring the project to life.
``A lot of love went into this, to build it for the kids,''
said Cappy Meredith, coordinator of Fire Education Services, and the prime mover behind the house.
Meredith, who joined the department 17 years ago, said the idea started when several staff members were discussing fire safety devices that they had seen in trade publications.
At the time, she said, no local fire department had anything like a small house for teaching children. The nearest one belonged to a private antique fire company in Richmond, so Meredith paid them a visit.
After she found out what was required in time, money and effort to construct such a project, Meredith had some initial reservations.
``Oh no, that's just too much,'' she recalled saying. ``But the more I thought about it, if we can get help from people in the field we can still do it.''
Joe Long, an inspector in the fire marshal's office at the time, also took a personal interest in the idea.
He learned of another project in Pinellas Park, Fla., and flew down to check it out at his own expense. The fire department there agreed to sell Long the plans for $20.
After that initial investment, though, the project languished for lack of funding, thanks in part, said Meredith, to the economic recession. It wasn't until more than a year later that it came back to life after a member of the Fire Department presented the project to the Virginia Beach Junior Woman's Club. The club had helped before, making it possible for the Fire Department to obtain Freddie the Firetruck, a robot used to teach fire safety. The club thought Kidzshow was ``a wonderful idea,'' recalled Meredith, and they donated $15,000 to the project. Later, they made an additional donation that covered the entire monitoring system built into the trailer.
Actual construction was done by volunteers. Meredith credits two other ``heroes'' with seeing the project through: Capt. Joey Weinbrecht, head of the trailer committee, and Capt. Billy Smith, in charge of the upper structure. The volunteers started at square one, cutting and welding the steel for the chassis, attaching the axles, putting in the flooring, and building and furnishing the ``house.''
Additional donations flowed in from the community as the project moved forward; another $15,000 worth of goods and services found its way into Kidzshow as it rose and took shape on its trailer foundation.
A contest was held in the schools to select a name for the house on wheels. The winning entry, Safety House On Wheels (SHOW), was suggested by Sarah Lepere, who was then a fourth-grader at Kempsville Meadows Elementary. ``A teacher announced the contest,'' Sarah said, ``and my twin sister, Christina, and I went home and started brainstorming. I thought of it and the next day turned it in. I was real surprised when they announced that I had won.''
``Kidz'' was added later to make it Kids' Safety House On Wheels.
A crowd of about 50 gathered last Saturday for the dedication and ribbon cutting. Wielding the scissors were Meredith, Fire Chief Harry E. Diezel, Vice Mayor William D. Sessoms, Sarah Lepere, now a ninth-grader at Salem High School, and Kathie Leventhal, current president of the Virginia Beach Junior Woman's Club.
Diezel heaped praise on his people who had worked so long and hard to make it all happen. Referring to Meredith, Weinbrecht, Smith, and the other volunteers, he noted, ``They're spark plugs. They make my job a lot easier. You just have to stay out of their way. They did it.''
Following the dedication, 13 children ages 3 to 8 climbed into Kidzshow and, observed by their parents and other grown-ups on two TV monitors outside the trailer, went through a shakedown training exercise.
Except for one balky ventilator fan it came off without a hitch and afterward 13 better prepared kids came down the ladder at the back of the trailer into the arms of waiting firefighters. The front door was already opened as Kidzshow was readied for its next session, to teach more children how to survive a fire.
Meredith, a former schoolteacher and model, accompanied the kids into the house for its inaugural tour.
``I got some wide-eyed looks when the door lit up and the smoke started rolling in,'' she said. ``I had to remind them it was only practice.'' MEMO: Kidzshow is available by request for large gatherings, such as events at
Mount Trashmore, city fire stations and local schools. For more
information about scheduling, call 427-3922 or 427-4228.
Monster Fire Truck in the works, too
Another innovative project is already taking shape to help the
Virginia Beach Fire Department promote safety.
Don Moss, coordinator in the Fire Marshal's Office, explained the
concept behind the Monster Fire Truck, a 1944 Seagrave fire engine being
reworked from the ground up and placed upon 5-foot-high tires. Sponsored
by the Oceanfront Jaycees, the work is being done by students at the
Virginia Beach VoTech Center.
The truck, to be powered by natural gas, has Virginia Natural Gas as
a major sponsor.
When completed, it will be rigged to pull the Kidzshow trailer. It
will also appear in truck shows to promote fire safety and will be used
in conjunction with the Fire Department's Operation Smoke Detector
Project.
This smoke detector project, sponsored by the Kiwanis Club, makes
smoke detectors available at no cost to qualified households. Additional
information about the smoke detectors can be obtained by calling
471-5826.
ILLUSTRATION: [Cover]
THE SMOKE HOUSE
[Color] Photos by DARCY CHANG
Kidzshow, a pint-size home built by volunteers inside a
35-foot-trailer, will be used to teach fire safety to children. It
was unveiled last Saturday at Lynnhaven Mall.
Tricia Behan, Virginia Beach Fire Department education specialist,
helps 18-month-old Kalan Brehm activate a door that lights when
touched inside Kidzshow. Kalan is the daughter of Skip Brehm, the
department's chief of training.
Photos by DARCY CHANG
Kathie Leventhal, president of the Virginia Beach Junior Woman's
Club, follows her son, Ross, 4, through the Kidzshow trailer that
simulates a child-size home.
Parents watch closed-circuit monitors set up outside the Kidzshow
trailer as fire-safety education specialists inside teach about fire
and burn hazards in a miniature kitchen.
Jeana Scruggs of Virginia Beach helps her daughter, Taylor, 3, talk
to an ``operator'' after dialing 911 on a phone set up at Lynnhaven
Mall.
Chris Burkart, a firefighter with Company 7, coaches a child on how
to ``stop, drop and roll'' in case he is caught on fire.
In another part of the fire-safety program at Lynnhaven Mall,
children were also coached to crawl under a fake cloud of smoke.
Tanya Arrogante, a Virginia Beach firefighter with Company 2, helps
a child down a fire-escape ladder mounted on the back of the
``two-story home'' trailer.
by CNB