A Gonzales Fire Department firefighter sprays children July 13 at the end of the Junior Police program in the parking lot of city hall.

Gonzales Fire Department firefighters teach students about their equipment during the Junior Police program at the Gonzales Civic Center on July 13.

Gonzales Fire captain Jason Broussard aims a fire hose at children in the Junior Police program outside city hall on July 13.

Retired police officer Robin Burke speaks to children attending the Junior Police program in the Gonzales Civic Center on July 13.

Gonzales Fire Department firefighters teach students about their equipment during the Junior Police program at the Gonzales Civic Center on July 13.

A Gonzales Fire Department firefighter sprays children July 13 at the end of the Junior Police program in the parking lot of city hall.

Gonzales Fire Department firefighters teach students about their equipment during the Junior Police program at the Gonzales Civic Center on July 13.

Gonzales Fire captain Jason Broussard aims a fire hose at children in the Junior Police program outside city hall on July 13.

Retired police officer Robin Burke speaks to children attending the Junior Police program in the Gonzales Civic Center on July 13.

Gonzales Fire Department firefighters teach students about their equipment during the Junior Police program at the Gonzales Civic Center on July 13.

The Gonzales Fire Department emphasized the importance of fire safety and emergency services to a small group of children ranging from ages 7 to 12 in the penultimate class of Gonzales’ Junior Police program on July 13 at the Gonzales Civic Center.

The free Junior Police program, dating back nearly five decades when Mayor Barney Arceneaux started it during his tenure as police chief, is designed to promote effective safety education within the community at an early age, said Robin Brunke, a retired police officer working contract labor with the Gonzales Police Department, specifically within programs like this one.

“We teach safety,” Brunke said. “We teach safety with strangers, safety at home, safety when they’re with their friends. They practice how to handle strangers; we talk about drugs and how they’re not good. We do fire and water safety; just about any kind of safety you can think of, we do.”

The program, she said, is useful in teaching children things they don’t learn at school, as well as things that will help keep their entire families safe like reminders to check smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.

“It teaches the kids things they need to know that parents may not have time or think to teach their children,” said Brunke, the first volunteer female firefighter in Gonzales.

Each week, starting the first week of June and running until the end of July, the group of about 15 students are exposed to the various safety initiatives Gonzales has to offer, including the Gonzales Fire Department, which was the subject of the July 13 class.

A selection of Gonzales’ firefighters spoke to the kids and showcased their gear, allowing the children to familiarize themselves with firefighters and not to be afraid of them in the event of a fire emergency.

“The biggest thing about young children, it's always taught in fire prevention, that if something does happen in their home, we don’t want them to be scared when we’re trying to help them,” said Jason Broussard, a captain with the Gonzales Fire Department. “We will start with a fireman in a regular street uniform and transition to his fire gear and that shows them that that’s still the same person.”

One firefighter brought his bunker gear, the flame-retardant suit used during emergencies, and passed it around for the children to try elements of it, specifically the mask, on.

“That looks so cool,” one of the children said as the firefighters entered with their equipment.

After a brief talk about the importance of trusting firefighters and preparing a plan with parents in the event of a fire emergency, Broussard and the other firefighters took the children aboard their fire engine and their ambulance to continue the showcase of fire equipment and protocols.

“Anytime you get a young group of kids and you bring something like this, they always respond to it,” Broussard said. “When you sit down and start showing them the stuff you use, the stuff they don’t normally see, that’s when the questions come out. We don’t want any of them to be scared.”

The program also provides an avenue for former students of the program to serve as mentors through the Gonzales Police Explorers program.

One of the Explorers, 19-year-old co-advisor Landon Smith, said the program allows him to take the lessons he learned during his time in the program and share them with the next generation, as well as teaching him a new sense of responsibility and reverence for his community.

“The thing they learn most is a little bit of discipline, but a lot of how to treat people,” Smith said. “We cover a lot of bullying (and talk about how) you don’t talk about things people don’t want to hear. We want to let them know that it’s not just your parents that say this.”

A key element of the program is combining fun with learning. Nowhere was that more apparent than the conclusion of the day’s events when the class went across the street to city hall with the firefighters spraying the kids with the fire hose on the hot July day.

While the captain sprayed the students, parents and grandparents watched on as the lessons of a long day of learning was reinforced by a deluge of water from the fire hydrant. Brunke and Broussard said mixing a bit of fun with their learning helps the children comprehend and process the lessons.

“It starts to be ingrained in them that these things are important and that they can make a difference for themselves and somebody else,” Brunke said.

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