PRIMARY school children from across Wiltshire are learning the importance of fire safety, thanks to Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service.

Throughout this week and next week, the service is working with partner agencies including Wiltshire Police, Wiltshire Council and Aster Communities to run the Junior Good Citizen programme for Year Six students (10 and 11 year olds), drawn from primary schools across the county.

Junior Good Citizen is designed to help children avoid putting themselves at risk of accident or injury, by raising their awareness of situations where something could happen. It also encourages them to respond appropriately to emergency situations, and shows how being a ‘good citizen’ can create a safer community.

As part of the programme, youth engagement advisors from Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service are running an exercise where children enter a room set up like a bedsit. The children work in small teams to identify the hazards and feedback to the ‘homeowner’ the issues they have identified, as well as solutions to the problems.

Dangers to spot include clothes near an electric heater, candles left burning on a TV, overloaded sockets, an iron left on and face down, a petrol can placed in the kitchen, dangerous chemicals on view, a knife in a toaster, a tea towel drying over a lamp, and a smoke