Vietnamese kids receive fire escape training to watch out for themselves

By Ngoc Thanh May 21, 2018 | 07:45 pm PT

The course teaches young children quick response skills to run from fire danger on their own.

Each course has at least from 60 to 400 trainees, mainly primary and secondary students who are vulnerable to the risk of unexpected fire accidents due to lack of basic knowledge and quick response skills. They will be furnished with gloves, helmets and face mask before the exercise.

A training course involving fire drills is now open for children between six and 15 years of age in Hoa Son Commune, Luong Son District in the northern province of Hoa Binh. Children will be equipped with essential skills to escape and save themselves in case of fire. Each course has 60 to 400 trainees, mainly primary and secondary school students who will be furnished with gloves, helmets and face masks for the exercise.

Little kids bend down and crawl onto emergency exit door to avoid toxic black smoke during a practice session.

Little kids bend down and crawl into an emergency exit door to avoid toxic black smoke during a practice session.

A female student learns to use a fire extinguisher to put out a blaze under close supervision of the coaches. The training course is held by a fire prevention center under the Ministry of Public Security in the neighboring Hanoi.

Each trainee receives careful instruction.

Young pupils always suffer from a fear of heights and have difficulty in swinging down on ropes from above to the ground, forcing the instructors to resort to psychological methods to help them overcome the fear, before proceeding with the exercise said Do Tuan Anh, vice director of a research center on fire protection and prevention.

"Young students always suffer from the fear of height and have difficulty in swinging down on ropes from above to the ground," said Do Tuan Anh, vice director of a research center on fire protection and prevention. Instructors thus usually have to use psychological measures to calm them down before proceeding with the exercise, he said.

A kid shows her tense face when learning to swing on a rope for the first time.

A girl is tensed when learning to swing on a rope for the first time.

For short courses, children will be chiefly taught with fire and rescue drills while those taking part in one-week-long courses can learn more other skills such as drowning prevention, first aid for minor injuries, and ways to survive in jungle.

For short courses, children will be taught with fire and rescue drills while those taking part in one-week-long courses can learn more other skills such as drowning prevention, first aid for minor injuries, and how to survive in the jungle.