McAllen Fire Department rolls out LAFS program to teach children fire-safety skills during October

The McAllen Fire Department is introducing Life and Fire Safety (LAFS) during Octobers Fire Prevention Month, using costumed characters and interactive performances to teach students how to call 911, practice home escape plans and stay calm in emergencies, the city said.

City spokesperson Laura Denise Garcia said LAFS is a statewide initiative designed to make fire education "interactive, engaging, and memorable." She said firefighters on the McAllen Fire Community Risk Reduction Team wrote most of the presentation scripts and trained with a professional clown instructor to learn stage makeup and performance techniques. "I may become a makeup influencer someday," Garcia added.

A driver for the McAllen Fire Department, who spoke about the program during the announcement, said the department adopted the new approach because traditional classroom methods had become "very outdated" and monotonous. "Here, I just let it loose, and you just have fun with the kids. And you see the smiles, you see the excitement, and it just drives you back to doing it over and over," the firefighter said.

Garcia listed the programs characters, including McAllen Fire Safety Ambassadors, Rescue Rob, Cadet Joshy, FFC Fuegos and Freddy the fire truck, and said the approach aims to make lessons stick in ways that traditional talks do not. The presentations cover basic emergency actions such as calling 911, creating and practicing home escape plans, and techniques for staying calm during an emergency.

The city did not specify funding sources, the number of schools or students scheduled to receive the program, or the exact rollout timeline beyond occurring in October. For the City of McAllen, Laura Denise Garcia delivered the announcement.