In honor of May being National Water Safety Month, firefighters from the Fishers Fire Dept. partnered with Stony Creek Swim Center staff this spring to teach children the importance of water safety.
A FFD firefighter and a swim instructor from Stony Creek visited each of the Hamilton Southeastern school district’s kindergarten, first and second grade classrooms this spring, totaling 186 classes and reaching approximately 4,280 students with potentially life-saving messages.
FFD and Stony Creek first teamed together in 2014 in an effort to educate the city’s elementary-age student about water safety and reduce the number of drownings and near-drownings in the area through education and teaching children to swim.
Included among the lessons to elementary students was procedures for reaching and throwing floating items to people in trouble in the water, but not going in after them as to prevent both people from drowning. Proper life jacket usage, including checking for a correct fit, was also taught to students.
Stony Creek offered each student a chance to swim free for one day at their Noblesville location so more children can learn how to swim and reduce the number of water accidents.