Fire Science
Description:
4-H fire science exhibits need to be educational in nature. They need to teach others about your topic. If your division has more than 1 option, make sure you pick a different option each year you are in that division.
State Fair Entries:
NONE
Exhibit Class Guidelines:
DIVISION 1 (Grade 3)
- Visit a local fire station and tell about your visit. Create a poster displaying pictures of your visit and an explanation of your pictures. Be sure to include a summary of your visit somewhere in your project describing what you thought about your visit.
DIVISION 2 (Grades 4/5)
Choose 1 of the following projects:
- Design an escape route of your home for you and your family. Be very specific about where you plan to meet and how you will know if everyone has made it out safely. Practice the fire drill with your family several times. Create a poster including either your escape plan OR pictures and explanations of your practice drills (or a combination of both). If you chose to display your practice drills make sure to tell what you learned by doing the practice drills and what changes you made (if any) to your original plan.
- Learn basic first aid. Visit a fire station and learn about basic first aid. Ask a fireman, EMT, or Paramedic to teach you what to do before help arrives in the event someone gets hurt. Practice on a friend or family member. Be sure to take pictures! Create a poster showing what you learned and include your pictures!
- Trucks- Visit several different fire stations. Learn about the different trucks they have. Create a poster including pictures and tell about 5 or 6 different trucks you learned about. Be sure to explain what the purpose of each truck is and what makes it the best truck for the job.
DIVISION 3 (Grades 6-8)
Choose 1 of the following projects:
- What does a firefighter do? There are 4 different types of Fire Service (Career, Paid on Call, Volunteer, or Combination). Visit with a firefighter that falls into each category. Tell what jobs each firefighter is called upon to do. Explain what makes each job different. Take pictures of your firefighters and include them with your poster.
- Life Safety- Visit a fire station and learn the ways a firefighter stays safe. Create a poster and explain all the different ways a firefighter stays safe on the job and off the job. Be sure to include pictures.
- Tools- Firefighters use many different tools depending on the type of emergency and also depending on the size of the incident. Visit a fire station and learn about some of these different tools. Create a poster explaining the uses of 8 to 10 different tools including pictures and if possible, pictures of the tools in use. Make sure to include a little bit about the care and maintenance of these tools.
- Public Education- Firefighters go into schools every year to teach kids about fire safety. Visit with a local firefighter in charge of teaching kids in schools. Create a program of your own explaining what you would do in a school to teach kids about fire safety. Be creative in your program and include examples. If possible, put your program to the test by showing it to some younger friends or family members. Be sure to include pictures of your demonstration as well as the kid’s reaction to the program.
- Different Jobs- When firefighters respond to a fire call, they are assigned different jobs to do at the fire. For example search and rescue, Ladder Company, incident command… etc. Visit a local career fire station and learn about the different jobs assigned to the firefighters. Create a poster and explain these jobs. Include pictures of tools or trucks that each job may require if possible.
DIVISION 4 (Grades 9/10)
Choose 1 of the following projects:
- Haz-mat- Visit a local fire station and talk with the firefighters about Hazmat( Hazardous Material). Learn about local Haz-Mat teams and what they do, how they are called out, and when they are called out. Create a poster of what you have learned. Take pictures of several different Haz- Mat signs you may see in the area and tell what each of them mean and how you came to this conclusion. Include an ERG book with your project, or pictures of one showing the different parts to the book.
- Fire triangle-Visit a local fire station and talk with the firefighters about how a fireworks. Go online or go to a library for additional help on what a fire triangle or fire tetrahedron is. Create a poster with visuals, explaining a fire triangle (tetrahedron) and how fireworks.
- Search/Rescue- Visit a local fire station and talk with some fire fighters about how they perform search and rescue. GO online or visit a local library for additional help. Create a poster describing what you learned about search and rescue. Do your own pretend search and rescue in a home or building and have a friend take pictures. Explain what you are doing in the photos and why.
DIVISION 5 (Grades 11/12)
Choose 1 of the following projects:
- Volunteer- Volunteer at your local fire department for a minimum of 20 hours and receive your CPR certification. Keep a log describing in detail what you did and record your time spent. Have an over-seeing officer sign your log. Create a poster describing what you did during your time and about learning CPR. Be sure to include pictures any pictures you may have taken as well as the log you kept.
- Join a cadet program at a local fire station and receive your CPR certification. Keep a log describing in detail what you did and record your hours. Have it signed by your overseeing officer. Create a poster describing the cadet program and what you have learned. Be sure to include pictures.