Oxford to Get Fire Prevention Safety Trailer From Seymour

Teaching children about fire safety has always been a top priority for the Oxford Fire Department. Now, thanks to a donation from neighboring Seymour, the department will soon be armed with a new tool geared to potentially save lives.

Oxford will soon become the proud owner of the area’s only fire safety and prevention education trailer. The 30-foot trailer boasts a kitchen, living room and bedroom, and is used to simulate actual fire and smoke conditions.

The trailer was purchased by Seymour Ambulance Association in 2003, courtesy of a $32,900 grant from the Katharine Matthies Foundation. Seymour emergency personnel used the trailer for several years to teach students, and adults, how to safely escape from a burning building, said SAA Executive Director Scott Andrews. The trailer was also lent to area fire departments, including Oxford and Bethany, on a regular basis.

But over the past few years the trailer has pretty much remained dormant, parked in the lot adjacent to SAA’s headquarters on Wakeley Street, Andrews said.

He said he's tried several times to get the trailer back in use in Seymour, but said there hasn’t been a whole lot of interest for it.

Oxford fire officials borrowed the trailer for an open house program at one of the town schools last year during National Fire Prevention Week, and even put a little work into it, Andrews said. That’s when Oxford Fire Chief Scott Pelletier inquired about taking ownership of it.

Andrews said he was more than happy to donate the trailer to his neighbors in Oxford, and is glad to see the effective teaching tool will soon get a new lease on life.

He said the trailer needs some maintenance to get it back into tip-top shape. Pelletier said Oxford is already looking into grants to get the trailer up and running, enabling it to be used once again.

“It’s unfortunate that we haven’t used it, and I’d rather see the trailer go to someone who can use it and keep it up,” Andrews said. “I want to see it go to a good home, and Oxford is a good fit for it.”

The Oxford Board of Selectmen agreed the trailer will also make a nice addition here, and recently granted unanimous approval to transferring ownership.

“It’s really quite an impressive teaching tool,” Oxford First Selectman Mary Anne Drayton-Rogers said, adding that the transfer will come at no cost to Oxford. “To have children go through it, and teach them how to react to an almost real-life situation is invaluable. It’s going to be a nice addition.”

Pelletier said he hopes to have the trailer towed to town soon. It will be stored at the Oxford Center firehouse on Route 67. He said he will continue the same spirit of cooperation that Seymour did, in allowing surrounding towns to borrow the trailer for various events.

“There’s not a lot of fire safety trailers like this in the state, and we plan to use it for fire prevention,” Pelletier said.