Firemen give firework safety advice at West Earlham Infant School

Paige Stimpson, 5, tries on the helmet as children from West Earlham Infant School learn about fire safety from a fire crew at Briar Chemical. Picture: DENISE BRADLEY (Image: Copyright: Archant 2015)

A crew of firefighters from Briar Chemicals visited West Earlham Infant School yesterday to emphasise key messages about dealing with fireworks.

Fire safety officer Sam Fisher spoke to the 120 pupils in an assembly, telling them about fire safety, after which they asked many questions about how to stay safe.

He told the pupils how to use sparklers safely, by wearing gloves and keeping their arms straight.

He also told them not to go near any fireworks after they had been lit.

The visit also had its lighter side, and after the assembly, each of the four classes took it in turn to have a look around the fire engine.

Mr Fisher explained what the equipment on board would be used for, and five pupils from each class used the hose to shoot water at a target football to knock off the top of a cone, while their classmates cheered.

Susan Newton, operations manager at the school, said: 'For us, it's about having the key messages coming from a different source.

'It just reinforced what children are hearing in schools and in the community.

'I think it's really important that children get messages from lots of different sources.'

Tim Green, the company's site manager, said: 'The children love to sit in the fire engine and try on the hats.

'We have made these visits to local schools before and it's a very effective way of presenting a very important message at this time of the year.'

Briar Chemicals has five full-time firefighters and 40 part-time fire-fighters on its site on Sweet Briar Road, Norwich.

Do you have an education story for us? Email education correspondent martin.george@archant.co.uk with the details.