Lifesaving Lessons Learned at Station 56

Twenty-three local children and teenagers learned lifesaving techniques this week at Upper Macungie's during the annual Junior Police Fire EMS program that culminated Friday.

"It's changed a little bit, but this year we did police and fire together," said , Upper Macungie fire commissioner, who ran the event with members of the

"Monday, we covered police investigation and firearm safety. Tuesday, we covered first aid, CPR and defibrillation. Wednesday, we covered fire power, fire pumping, hose drag and fire attack. Thursday was a repeat of Tuesday."

Friday's exercise, moved indoors due to bad weather, was termed a challenge as students went through a round-robin course of fire and police rescue techniques. The techniques including pulling a dummy from a smoke-filled room, performing CPR, loading the victim on a backboard, a hose drag and putting a fire out with fire extinguishers.

It proved a challenge for some of the students, who had to don heavy firefighter equipment while performing the duties.

"It was fun," said Cole Matrishin. "It taught us a lot of things - CPR and first aid for stroke and heart attack victims.

Kristina Redmond also thought the academy was a good way to spend a summer's week.

"We got to learn a lot of new things -- things we'll be able to use in the future," she said.