Fire Prevention in Pittsburgh

When I was a kid, when we had a fire prevention class, we had Sparky the Fire Dog. Sparky was someone you could trust. If you followed his advice, you knew that you and your family would be safe from fires. But even if you had a fire, you knew you could entrust your life to the brave firemen who would come to fight the fire at your house.




But now, things are different. My kids have never come home with anything from Sparky the Fire Dog. Which is surprising since Sparky now has his own website. But there's plenty of incentive to not have a fire at your house. Especially if you live in the City of Pittsburgh.

Imagine it, you have a family of 4 - a beautiful wife, an 8-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter. You awaken at 2:24 am to the sound of the smoke detector. You call 911. The firefighters arrive quickly, but your wife and children are trapped upstairs. They're in good hands! Your loved ones are rescued. You check the badge of the rescuer, and it's Lieutanant Martin Sanders. He's one of Pittsburgh's most trustworthy firefighters, right?

Wrong!

It turns out that your knight in shining armor doesn't necessarily wear his armor all the time! That's right, Lt. Martin Sanders is the same Lt. Martin Sanders of the Pittsburgh Fire Bureau who went to a concession stand at Sunday's Pittsburgh Steelers game, exposed himself, resisted arrest, and finally had to be tasered twice before being subdued and taken to Allegheny General Hospital. And then, while awaiting examination, he reportedly struck yet another officer who tried to stop him from using a cell phone on hospital property.

You start to wonder. Your wife and children have been acting strangely since the fire. Could their behavior be related to a bit too enthusiastic a rescue by Lt. Sanders? You may never know.

It's time to increase our fire prevention education. I'm gonna force our kids to go to the Sparky the Fire Dog website. They're gonna learn not to burn!