Week 4 Term 2 2008

We have had a very busy week at school this week with a lot of exciting events. On Tuesday we were invited into Room 6 to listen to Jamie’s grandad. Jamie’s grandad is a doctor. He showed us a lot of interesting equipment and a skeleton. We were fascinated.

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On Wednesday we were expecting the firemen from Birkenhead fire station to visit when we heard a fire engine race down the road – off to a quick emergency in Devonport. They returned a short time later entered our drop off zone when they were off again – this time to a transformer fire in Northcote. There were a lot of disappointed five year olds, which resulted in a great discussion about priorities for the fire fighters. Thursday’s visit was kept a bit of a surprise and when we spotted the fire engine from our classroom there were great jumps for joy and screams of delight as the photo below shows.



The visit from the fire fighters was so informative and we were able to find out answers to our questions. The fire fighters put on their boots before getting into the fire engine where they put on their jackets and helmets. The fire engine does hold water in a water tank holding 1300 litres. When they get to a fire they can use it if they need to. It lasts about 6 minutes. Before they leave after the fire they fill up the tank again as they are not allowed to travel the streets with an empty tank.

We also asked about the position of the ladder on the fire engines because we’d seen ladders on the side of fire engines in books. They told us that in New Zealand the ladders are always on the top of the fire engine although the ladders on the new fire engines will be on the back. Ladders are on the side of fire engines in America and England.

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We got to look through the fire engine and sit in front of the fan they use to clear smoke. The fan was put on to great squeals of delight as our hair went everywhere. Sitting back in front of the fire engine the fire fighters instructed us to move they had been called to go to a fire. We moved immediately and watched as they raced out of our school grounds.



We are busy painting fire engines and will write about their visit next week. Look out for them on next weeks blog entry.