Working with teachers and educators, Pelham Fire Chief Michael Walker is addressing his new fire safety program to elementary school children by pairing up students and firefighters as pen pals.

With a budget for community outreach that was nearly nonexistent, Walker decided to implement a letter- writing program he had seen work at another fire department before coming to Pelham. During the second week of school, Walker began working with third-grade teachers at Pelham Elementary School and Saint Patrick School. Since then, the students at Saint Patrick’s have gone through two rounds of letters, while the firefighters work on the letters sent by third-graders at Pelham Elementary.

“They can’t wait for the letter to come in, and they can’t wait to get theirs back to them,” said Gael Ouellete, a third-grade teacher at the Saint Patrick School. “They’re so excited when Chief Walker drops off the letters. They’re having a blast.”

Walker and his firefighters use the letters as a chance to connect with the students and pass along fire safety and prevention tips.

While the firefighters will answer questions from the children about their own families, pets and hobbies, they also ask students to create a home evacuation plan with their parents or check the batteries in their smoke detectors.

“Its extraordinary. The kids are great. They’ve learned to write, and they learn and absorb those fire prevention methods,” Walker said. “They get to know us, and the parents get to know us. It’s completely win-win.”

Ouellete said the program had done a great job of bringing a community together by connecting Pelham’s children with the town’s fire department.

“I think its finally giving a name to a face and making them not just the guys who ride on the back of a truck. It’s ‘oh yeah I know you,’ and ‘he’s a nice guy.’ It’s more of a personal touch,” Ouellete said. “Unfortunately, you get a town like this, which is a bedroom community, and (residents) are not as involved as I would like them to be. But now the kids are involved.”

Walker said the department had targeted third-graders after the National Fire Academy identified them as being at the age when they have developed the necessary cognitive and communication skills and can absorb fire prevention information. Firefighters are also participating in a second program that has first-graders competing in a coloring contest.

In the future, Walker said he would like to work with the Pelham schools to create other programs to get his firefighters out into the community, like a tutoring program for students. While Ouellete has made plans to meet with him next month to discuss more collaboration, in the end, he said it comes down to energy and time.

“We don’t have the funding to do a ton of stuff. The things that we’re doing takes the energy and the commitment of the fire department and the personnel. They volunteer to do it,” he said.

Walker has already begun to see a positive reaction from the community as a whole, as visitors stop by the station more often, especially during the days firefighters are out cleaning the machinery and fire apparatus, something he had hoped to encourage.

“It’s important for us to get involved in the community, and citizens need to know what we do and we need to communicate with the community to keep them safe.

(It’s called) community risk induction. If you see firefighters out, you’re more inclined to ask them questions that are on your mind,” Walker said.

“They’re always welcome. It’s great to have the kids here and show them around.”