When Assistant Fire Marshal Carl Peas teaches fire safety, he spreads a little fun and passion into each class.
Elementary school children recognize him as “Dante,” the boy who catches his hand on fire in the “Dante’s Dance” play written and choreographed by his sister, Carla Webb, for the annual Fire Prevention Week in October. Firefighters playing different roles entertain the children by singing and dancing. They teach kids to call 911 in case of fire and to say no to playing with matches.
Senior citizens know him as the gently teasing educator who answers their questions on fire safety. Both programs are regularly broadcast on Murfreesboro’s Channel 3.
Firefighters across the state know him as an instructor at the Tennessee Fire and Codes Academy in Deason just inside the Rutherford-Bedford County line.
For his mission to spread fire safety, Peas earned the Public Fire Educator of the Year award from the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance’s Fire Prevention Division.
“I was honored to receive an award,” Peas said, but immediately shared the award with his team of firefighter coworkers. “It’s not any one thing I did. I had to have help from coworkers and the department’s administrative staff to give me flexibility. We are a team effort.”
Peas, 41, joined Murfreesboro Fire Department 19 years ago. He served as a firefighter until being promoted to the fire marshal’s office in 1997. As assistant fire marshal, his primary duties include education, inspections and investigations.
When promoted, Peas remembered Fire Marshal Ken Honeycutt advising him to have fun while spreading the fire safety message. Peas took his advice seriously, adapting the lessons to the group whether the audience is a preschool child to a businessperson at a civic group to senior citizens.
“You just have to conform to the group, get your message across and have fun,” Peas said.
After working with Peas for seven years, Assistant Fire Marshal Nora Byrn Smith nominated him for the state award “because he’s very good at what he does. Everybody requests him. He can hold their attention.
“He makes you laugh,” Smith explained. “He gets you wanting to get involved.”
Smith describes herself as the office organizer. For example, she’s the voice behind Freddie the Fire Truck, a remote control fire truck they use to teach preschool children.
“Carl talks to Freddie like it’s absolutely real,” said Smith, adding she squirts him with water during the presentation much to the delight of kids.
Besides teaching children and senior citizens, Peas teaches classes about using fire extinguishers, practicing evacuation drills and installing and maintaining smoke detectors at civic groups, industrial plants and health-care facilities.
“For years and years, the target groups were the children and the elderly,” Peas explained. “We’re seeing an increase in fire deaths among middle-aged people. We’ve expanded to get 20- to 50-year-old people.”
While he enjoys teaching adults, Peas shines while interacting with kids during “Dante’s Dance.” Firefighters retain the elementary school children’s attention during the play. At the end, they reinforce the fire safety message by having children stomp their feet in time while learning the fire safety jingles such as “No to matches, no to lighters, no to anything that catches on fire.”
Parents often recognize him and tell him their children still sing the jingles.
“That tells me we’re getting our message across,” Peas said. “Knowing you’re making a difference, knowing you’re saving a life or preventing something — we’re getting our point across no matter how silly we look.”
Peas turns serious when he mentions Tennessee ranks in the Top 5 in the U.S. for fire deaths.
“We need to get fire deaths down,” Peas said, noting many deaths can be prevented. “The only way we can get this down is education.”
Lisa Marchesoni may be reached at 869-0814 or at lmarchesoni@murfreesboropost.com. |
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