Nashville, TN – The Tennessee State Fire Marshal’s Office is recognizing the statewide winners of the 2013 Fire Prevention Poster Contest and the 2013 Public Fire Educator of the Year. The winners will be honored at an awards banquet on January 25, 2014 at the Tennessee Fire and Codes Academy.
Each year, the Tennessee State Fire Marshal’s Office holds a poster contest in an effort to raise fire safety awareness for one of Tennessee’s most vulnerable groups, our children.
This year’s poster contest theme was “Prevent Kitchen Fires” and it corresponded with the National Fire Protection Association’s Fire Prevention Week campaign.This year’s theme was especially pertinent as cooking fires are the leading cause of home fires both in Tennessee and nationwide.
“Programs like this are a fun and effective way to get students educated about fire safety,” said State Fire Marshal Julie Mix McPeak. “The safety lessons they learn from working on these projects are often spread to their parents and siblings.”
This past fall, students from across the state in kindergarten through 12th grade created posters illustrating the key ways that fires in the kitchen can be prevented. Local fire departments sponsored the contest in schools from their districts and judged a winner from each grade.
The winning posters were then sent to the State Fire Marshal’s Office for judging by a panel that included representatives from the Tennessee State Museum, the Belmont University Art Department, and The Tennessean.
This year’s winners are:
Kindergarten | Brylan Walton | Dyer County Fire Department |
First Grade | Aadi Jain | Collierville Fire & Rescue |
Second Grade | Jordan Worley | Charlotte Vol. Fire Department |
Third Grade | Ace Wyatt | Manchester Fire & Rescue |
Fourth Grade | Emma Jane Stacy | Sweetwater Fire Department |
Fifth Grade | Mya Deaton | Gatlinburg Fire Department |
Sixth Grade | Connor Groves | Brentwood Fire & Rescue |
Seventh Grade | Kali Bruns | Germantown Fire Department |
Eighth Grade | MacKenna Hood | Chattanooga Fire Department |
Ninth Grade | Tennille Rogers | Chattanooga Fire Department |
Tenth Grade | Devin Whitaker | Mount Pleasant Fire Department |
Eleventh Grade | Laura Lester | Collierville Fire & Rescue |
Twelfth Grade | Ben O’Connor | Collierville Fire & Rescue |
Commissioner’s Choice | Ginny Archie | Greenfield Fire Department |
The winners will each receive a $50.00 prize check and a certificate of achievement from Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam. They will also be honored at an awards event on January 25th at the Tennessee Fire Service and Code Enforcement Academy.
You can view the winning posters here: http://www.tn.gov/fire/documents/2013posterpictures.pdf.
Among their many fire prevention efforts this past year, the ORFD Prevention Office made a huge safety impact on their community by producing a powerful video on the importance of escape planning and distributing it to approximately 3,000 homes with young children.
The ORFD Prevention Office will be honored at the January 25th awards event with a plaque and certificates from Governor Haslam. The team is managed by Assistant Chief Josh Waldo and includes Shane Bass, Stephen King, Austin Keathley, Brock Stooksbury, Scott Prosise, Jason Benjamin, Casey Payne and Ben Taylor.
The State Fire Marshal’s Office is a division of the Department of Commerce and Insurance, which works to protect consumers while ensuring fair competition for industries and professionals who do business in Tennessee. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.