Arkansas Firefighter Releases New Children's Fire Safety Book
Johnson County RFD #1 Firefighter and Public Fire and Life Safety Educator, Dayna Hilton, of Clarksville, Arkansas, has added two new hats: that of publisher and author. Hilton released her new children's fire safety book and audio book, Sparkles the Fire Safety Dogyle:normal">Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog, on April 11th at the Fire Department Instructor's Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. Sparkles and Hilton, stars of PBS KIDS Sprout fire safety tips (which follow Fireman Sam episodes on Sprout On Demand), have shared fire safety messages with millions of children and their caregivers nationwide on both Sprout and FOX and Friends.
As children follow the adventures of Sparkles, they learn valuable fire safety tips enabling them and their families to keep safe. The book is based on the latest research conducted by Oklahoma State University's Fire Protection Publications comprehensive Fire Safety for Young Children, an Early Childhood Education Curriculum for young children between the ages of four and five years old. The book addresses four of the eight key fire safety concepts in the curriculum. These tips include recognizing the firefighter as a helper and a friend, knowing the sound and purpose of a smoke alarm, learning how to crawl low under smoke, and understanding the importance of practicing a home fire drill using an escape map. Readers will find that Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog is fun to read, is grounded in valuable fire safety messaging, and is based on the latest research.
Meri-K Appy, President of the Home Safety Council commented on the book, "Young children will love Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog…a spotted dog, friendly firefighters, and safety lessons designed just for them! The book is a great tool to help kids learn – without scaring them -- how to be safe from fire, a leading cause of accidental death at home."
Jenni Glenn, Director of Public Relations from PBS KIDS Sprout wrote of the book, ""Educating children about fire safety is so important… and Firefighter Dayna and her incredible canine companion Sparkles have found a way to make it both fun and easy. With this book, Dayna has taken a very serious and potentially frightening topic and transformed it into a simple, enjoyable concept for parents to discuss with their kids. Two paws up and a tail wag for Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog!"
Nancy Trench, Assistant Director of Oklahoma State University's Fire Protection Publications stated, "Children love reading the same book over and over. A fire safety book is one way to provide the repetition needed for young children to master home fire safety messages. Firefighter Dayna, Firefighter Michael and Sparkles give us a book to enjoy while we learn!"
"Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog is very well done and is a significant job aid for fire safety educators. The book really does a positive job of telling children in a very direct and simple way the essential behaviors when a smoke alarm activates. It also provides an opportunity for the fire safety educator, school teacher or even a fire chief to read to children. There are several opportunities to have interaction, show the real life objects that are presented and get feedback as you are reading. This is a tool that should be in every fire safety educator's tool box." Division Chief Mike Love, Division of Community Risk Reduction Services, Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service, Rockville, Maryland.
The audio book was narrated by Hilton and her father, Firefighter Glenn Trembley, formally of the Edgely Volunteer Fire Department (PA). Michael Post, Hilton's son and also a firefighter with RFD #1, composed the music and engineered the CD, making the audio book a three-generational project.
The International Fire Service Training Association and Robotronics each hosted a day long book signing event for Sparkles and Hilton at FDIC. Children and their caregivers, firefighters and other attendees had the opportunity to meet Sparkles and Spanner (her Dalmatian friend), have their books signed and be photographed with the dogs.
Chicago was one of the kick-off cities for Sparkles and Dayna's national book tour. Chicago Fire Department hosted an event at the department's Survive Alive House. Hilton, along with Chief Joseph Roccasalva, Chicago Fire Department Chief of Public Education, Debbie Hanson, Director of External Affairs, First Alert, participated in a press conference. Hilton read her book to Second Graders from Catherine Cook School, signed books, posed for photos and taught children about fire safety during her visit. To help with fire safety education and Dayna and Sparkles, First Alert donated 1,000 books to the Chicago Fire Department for distribution to area schools. First Alert is currently working to assist Hilton with the promotion of the book, enabling it to reach more children with fire safety messages.
June will be a busy month as Sparkles and Hilton travel to book events on the East coast, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting area fire departments. One of Hilton's personal goals as an educator is to assist fire departments in Arkansas and across the country with their fire and life safety educational programming and funding opportunities. One of the ways in which her publishing company hopes to accomplish this is to provide fire departments with the opportunity to purchase copies of the books at a promotional price. The department can then sell the book at full price, keep the proceeds earned, and put the funding toward their department's fire and life safety educational efforts. According to Hilton, departments who wish to do this may want to solicit funds from local businesses and other sponsors to purchase the book at the promotional rate.
Hilton's next book, Sparkles Goes to Boston, will be released in the Spring of 2009 and will include additional fire safety messaging. Sparkles and Hilton will travel to the Boston area in June where photos for the book will be taken with members of the Southborough Fire Department. The book will focus on Sparkles' big trip to Boston to visit Firefighter Jim Peltier and his friends at their fire station. Sparkles will also assist teaching fire safety to area children.
Three new websites have been developed to help promote fire safety messages and to disseminate information about the book. The first is Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog Homepage (www.sparklesthefiresafetydog.com), which is for children, complete with fire safety messages, activity sheets, photos, games and more. Two other safety sites are Firefighter Dayna’s Homepage (www.firefighterdayna.com) and lastly, Hilton’s publishing company, Firehouse Dog Publishing (www.firehousedogpublishing.com).
For more information on Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog, please visit Hilton's website at www.firehousedogpublishing.com, or contact Hilton at dayna@firehousedogpublishing.com.
Other related sites:
Firehouse.com Article on Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog
First Alert Podcast on
Sparkles the Fire
Safety Dog
http://www.firstalert.com/podcast/podcast.php
Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog Homepage
www.sparklesthefiresafetydog.com
Firefighter Dayna's Homepage
Children’s Fire Safety Author Dayna Hilton’s Blog
http://childrensbookauthordaynahilton.blogspot.com
March articles on
Sparkles the Fire
Safety Dog
April articles on
Sparkles the Fire
Safety Dog