Washington’s Lowe’s Home Improvement presents its Build ‘n’ Grow Kids Clinic slated for Oct. 6 at 10 a.m.
The clinic and its related events are part of the observance of National Fire Prevention and Safety Week.  The events include a competition between firefighters, static displays of firefighting equipment and a fundraiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. All children who sign up for the clinic will be eligible to receive prizes to be awarded during the event. The firemen’s competition is expected to begin about 10:30 a.m. and last several hours.
Brian Lanning, a sales specialist at Lowe’s, the said the clinic will be larger than previous clinics.
“It’s a kids’ clinic that’s designed around fire prevention and safety in your home. What we do is we have the kids come out on Saturday morning. They build a fire truck from a kit that’s provided by Lowe’s,” he said.
Firefighters will talk with children about the importance of fire prevention around their homes and the need to develop an escape plan should their homes catch fire.
“What they do is explain to them, ‘Hey, this is a way to be safe. You don’t want to put any type of clutter around your stove, your fireplace. They point that out,” Lanning said of the firefighters’ remarks to the children.
Lanning said clinic organizers have added a “twist to it.”
“There are two new factors involved. The firemen’s association in Beaufort County has gotten together. They have decided to put on a condensed firemen’s competition between departments. … So, we’re going to have various departments around the county competing against each other. That gives the kids a way to see what firefighters do, show that firefighters are not scary, because a lot of kids have a problem, you know, with seeing a fireman in his gear. With all of his (self-contained breather apparatus), turnout gear on, his helmet and his mask, it’s a real scary thing for them man times,” Lanning said. “This is a way to show kids that firemen are just like mom and dad, grandma and grandpa, brother and sister. They’re just like you and me.”
The Muscular Dystrophy Association has “gotten onboard with this thing,” Lanning said.
Miss Emma, the good-will ambassador for the MDA presence in eastern North Carolina, will be part of the MDA fundraiser, he noted. Miss Emma is from Grimesland, he said.
Money raised by the fundraiser will be used to help send children with muscular dystrophy to a summer camp, Lanning said.