Local Elementary Students Recognized for Fire Home Escape Plans

(Front row from left) Taylor, Phoenix, Kathleen, Nicole, Annabelle, and Brady. (Back row from left) Mayor Pro Tem Richard Montgomery, Councilmember Hildy Stern, Mayor Steve Napolitano, MBFD Firefighter/Paramedic Patrick Jacobson, Fire Inspector Suzy Contreras, and Fire Chief Michael Lang. Photo by Jefferson Graham.

Second-graders from all five Manhattan Beach Unified School District (MBUSD) elementary schools and American Martyrs were recognized at the recent Manhattan Beach City Council meeting on December 7 as winners of the 2022 Manhattan Beach Fire Department Annual “Home Escape Plan” contest.  The City of Manhattan Beach Fire Department has partnered with local schools on this initiative for fifteen years and it’s one of the first public education fire prevention programs in the country. The program encourages students to develop emergency preparedness plans with their families.

During Fire Prevention Week, the MBFD visits students across the city and shares a presentation about fire prevention safety tips. Students are given a project assignment to design two home escape routes and submit their pieces of work to the contest.

“This year we had some of the most creative home escape plans I’ve ever seen. One of the winners made a board game of their home escape, another utilized QR codes that took me to their YouTube video featuring their home escape plan,” Patrick Jacobson, Firefighter/Paramedic said.

One second-grader from each MBUSD elementary school and American Martyrs receives the recognition as the top winner. They earn the grand prize of spending one morning with the MBFD members and riding to school in a fire engine!

(Left to Right) MBFD members Steve Fairbrother, Jeff Rice, and American Martyrs Student Nicole Schueller. Photo by MBFD.

The contest winners are:  

Brady Carlson (Pennekamp Elementary)

Annabelle Coffman (Meadows Elementary) 

Nicole Schueller (American Martyrs)

Kathleen Van Mierlo (Pacific Elementary)

Phoenix Viharo (Robinson Elementary)

Taylor Winkle (Grand View Elementary)

Watch this video of the winners produced by the Manhattan Beach Fire Department! 

You can find other MBUSD news stories by reading the latest Superintendent’s Newsletter here.

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