001It takes a team to keep our staff, students, and visitors safe. We're united in that front with our local partners in law enforcement, the community, our students, staff, and visitors. Together, we stand for swift, coordinated, [music] effective emergency response. >> Today, we are [music] invited by APS to the high schools. So, this is a great opportunity for the fire department and our community risk reduction program, which includes community education to educate staff and students about fire safety and life safety topics. >> It taught you how to use the fire extinguisher and also how to spot if someone's having like a stroke. I think it's cool that they're like coming out here to like show us how to do it and like that they're actually like putting effort into it and coming down. >> You have
002to be prepared in case anything happens. And it taught me how to like um take out a fire basically. have to aim for the bottom. >> It's good to be prepared and know like if something did happen, you know what to do so you don't freak out and don't like make it worse for yourself. >> Uh we want to make sure that students, whether they're at school or they're at home, are wellprepared to handle emergencies. >> It gives the students a lot of ability to learn about different things that they might not see in the classroom, but it also helps prepare them for their careers um that they might want to have with police and fire. Um and any sort of positive engagement um is good for our staff and students. The safety of our
003students and staff is our number one top priority. And to have a safe school environment in our classrooms and our schools and our buses. It's not just about being prepared. It's about creating a culture of awareness, of understanding, and that everyone knows what to do in those times of need of support. And so that's part of our work today to educate and make sure we have the systems in place and the opportunity [music] for everyone to ask questions and and be aware of everything they need to know. Every person has a role to play in preparedness and this is certainly true for our public safety professionals in Arlington who are very committed to making sure we do [music] everything we can to provide a safe and secure Arlington. You know, we will continue to partner
004with Arlington public schools to make sure that we have a comprehensive [music] plan and that we work together to ensure the safety of all. >> Preparedness means practicing [music] before the emergency occurs. We take these times for these exercise, drills, and scenarios to make sure we have the right relationships and resources [music] ready to go at a moment's notice. Throughout the whole entire school year, our firefighters and EMTs are welcomed into the school system to help train, to help drill, and to help respond to emergencies. This just enables us to get to know everybody, work together, uh, understand everybody's roles. There's a lot of moving parts that go on there, communications, incident management. this helps us prepare for that. And so having these opportunities to train with fire, PD, and other stakeholders, it just ensures
005that we're prepared. >> The more somebody knows about how to recognize an emergency and what to do is is critical. It helps prevent that emergency from getting worse and hopefully [music] save lives. >> It helps a lot with students that aren't as knowledgeable about the circumstances that can occur in a school. So, it's really helpful to know the procedures and what to do in those situations. >> If you have a plan in place, you can stay more calm and collected and do what needs to be done in the moment.