By David A. Sargent,Special to the Sun Journal

SABATTUS – For Fire Chief Don Therrien, early and often is the key to fire prevention education.

Therrien feels very strongly about teaching fire safety to youngsters, so he is going into the local elementary school with his own version of an intensive classroom program.

Through June, he will conduct a series of half-hour sessions with about 60 fourth-graders. His first school visits took place this past week. The program he has initiated is based on a 78-page book called “Fire Safety for Kids,” which he hands out to each student.

“My goal is just to make the kids more aware,” he said. “During Fire Prevention Week (in October) we come and we go, and they don’t see us for another whole year. I figured I could get in there, get them to know me, get them to know the fire department.”

In addition to the books, Therrien makes use of photos showing old and new firefighting equipment, and he has an antique doll he calls Angelina. He tells a story to the kids about how someone played with matches and now Angelina doesn’t have a home.

“I want to hit them right in the heart,” Therrien said.

He will tell the kids that someone who might have been burned and scarred in a fire is not different because of the injuries, “and they can still be your friend.”

With some other stories about the 1871 Chicago Fire and Mrs. O’Leary’s cow, Therrien will be able to teach the kids that modern firefighting is much better than the bucket brigades of more than a century ago.

“I want to go in and say, Hey, this is serious stuff,’ but we can also have some fun,” Therrien said. There will be lots of activities and some quizzes.

Therrien and another firefighter went door to door raising funds for the book. They would drive up in a firetruck because they knew it would get immediate attention.

The campaign made it possible to buy more than 350 books, which are localized for Sabattus by the publisher.

Firefighting runs deep in Therrien’s background. He grew up in Sabattus and was a junior firefighter. His father, Dick O’Brien, who was a long-time Sabattus firefighter, was his principal inspiration.

“I used to set my boots near the door right next to his to be ready for the fire calls,” he said.

Therrien’s experience includes parachuting as a smoke-jumper into forest fires in Oregon, as well as fighting forest fires in Michigan and wildfires in California. He served in the U.S. Army and has been with the Sabattus Fire Department for 20 years.

In addition to the education in schools, Therrien advocates the placement of Knox-Box units at businesses and homes. A Knox-Box is a product that gives public safety personnel rapid non-destructive entry to locked property when an alarm goes off.

He’s also pushing for the town to acquire a new forestry truck, sometimes called a stump-jumper, for woods fires.

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