Crime Prevention and Visit to Fire Station

[This blog was written by our scribe, Marcus Choo] With my Sixer stripes firmly stitched onto my uniform, I wore my Scout uniform with an extra ounce of pride today. I had missed last week's meeting due to some family circumstance so this week is the first time I'm attending scout meeting as Sixer and I'm really excited. I rushed my dad to bring me to school early as I want to set a good example to my Six about punctuality. A Youth Olympic Poster At around 9am, attendance was marked. Despite Akela's reminders, a few cubs still failed to submit their consent forms for our visit to the Queenstown Police Station and Fire Station…Sigh… [One Cub was sent home as he could not produce the consent form for this outing] Akela then gave out some badges – I got my Gold Arrow! Yes! – and soon it was time to set off. We were all very excited to be visiting the Police Station and especially so for the Fire Station. As we are a large pack, wewere divided into 2 groups. Group 2 visited the Police Stationfirst while Group 1 headed for the Fire Station. My Six was in Group 2. At the Police Station, we were ushered into a meeting room where the Station Inspector, Patrick Lim was to give us a talk on Crime Prevention. While waiting for the talk to begin, the YOG Cheer song was played to entertain us. Unfortunately, many of us didn't find the Cheer song entertaining at all! The talk was on preventable crimes, which were classified into 5 types – theft, housebreaking, outrage of modesty and pickpocketing. We were briefed on how such crimes can happen as well as the measuresthatwe can take to prevent such crimes. For example, we can prevent housebreaking by ensuring that we lock our house door and gate with a reliablelock whenever we go out.We also watched a short video on crime prevention. After the talk, we tried out a maze in which therewere 3 sections: Happy (didn't commit crime), Commit crime, and Imprisonment. The talk drove home the message to us that most crimes are preventable and we should take responsibility to adoptmeasures toprevent them. We should not take for granted that crimes won't happen to us! I'll definitely share this message with my family members.Remember – "Low crime doesn'tmean nocrime"! Insignia of the SCDF 1st Division, Queenstown Fire Station Sgt. Isra demonstrating the use of the Breathing apparatus Sgt. Sulaiman helping Sgt. Isra with the Breathing apparatus A Compound Platform Ladder or CPL Cubs listening to Sgt. Sulaiman giving a briefing on the equipment on board a Fire Truck Next, we visited the Fire Station. We got up close to a fire truck and the firemen introduced us to the various firefighting equipment stored on the fire truck. There were heavy saws, axes, hoses, nozzles and all sorts of other equipment that we don't even know existed! It was really an eye-opener for me! We even got to touch the truck and get into the driver's seat to get a feel of what it's like behind the steering wheel of a fire truck. Super Cool! Sgt. Sulaiman and his colleague showing other euipment carried on the Fire Truck After that, we got into the cage (at the end of the extendable crane) of the fire truck which is used by the firemen to access high rise windows or corridors of buildings. We were thrilled! We asked the fireman to bring us up to the 5th level instead of the 3rd The fireman could not bring himself to disappoint a group of excited cubs and he good naturedly obliged. Very very fun! Cubs 'flying' up to sky After we had our chance to go "skywards" in the cage, we played with the fire hose! The excitement index keeps getting higher! We found the fire hose to be deceptively heavy! A very strong jet of water sprayed out of the hose and it took many of us to hold the hose steady! The firemen told us that they can operate the fire hose on different modes and water pressure, depending on the nature and severity of the fire. Wah! This is better than water bomb Let's water the plants Finally, we watched 4 firemen slide down the sliding pole, using different methods – the American way, the Singapore way and the 2-persons way. What won't I give to have a go at the sliding pole! Alas, it was deemed to be too dangerous for us so we can only watch with envy as the fire fighters slid down the pole. Pole Dancing????? With that, we rounded up our enormously fun visit to the fire station. Besides the fun, we also get to better appreciate the job of the firemen and their tools and equipment. The next time I see a fire truck on the road, I'll be reminded that the firemen's job is not easy as fires can claim lives! Before we left, we were given a very cute hand phone pouch in the shape of a fireman uniform and also a red plastic fireman's 'helmet' as souvenirs. We headed back to school with a lot of new knowledge on crime prevention and also lots of good memories of our visit to the Fire Station.