Safe Kids Dalton, Whitfield Fire Department Earn State Recognition

The Whitfield County Fire Department has earned statewide recognition for its efforts as lead agency of Safe Kids Dalton.

The county fire department received the Outstanding Lead Agency Award 2015 during Safe Kids Georgia’s Seventh Annual Awards Breakfast at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta on Oct. 16.

Accepting the award for Whitfield County, which was competing against 28 other lead agencies in the state, were Lt. Chris West and Lt. Nathan Callaway. 

“They attributed the award to our child passenger seat technician safety training we’ve done,” Lt. West said.

Since 2011, Safe Kids Dalton has trained more than 150 technicians who are certified to check for proper installation of car seats in vehicles.

“In 2011, we probably had 30 to 35 technicians through all Whitfield County agencies – fire, police, health department, and EMS,” Lt. West said. “Now I’ve got probably 90 techs between all of our agencies in Whitfield County and the City of Dalton, and we’ve broadened out and have trained technicians in Murray, Gordon, Walker, and Catoosa counties.”

Since being certified, those techs have checked out hundreds of vehicles at special events to make sure the car seats are properly installed, contributing to the overall safety of the community.

“Throughout the year, we do several car seat checks,” Lt. West said, “whether it be at safety events or just in parking lots at a local store, places like Kohl’s, Kmart, or Walmart. We’re fixing to team up with the Georgia State Patrol in Calhoun and do a seat check in December for a Toys for Tots drive.”

Besides these special events, residents are welcome to stop by Whitfield County Fire Stations 1 and 8 and Dalton Station 1, and “95 percent of the time, a car seat technician will be on duty to check their car seats,” Lt. West said.

“It’s not easy to become a car seat technician,” Fire Chief Ed O’Brien said, “and it’s hard to maintain.”

In fact, each technician has to go through four days of intense instruction, then has to be re-certified every two years.

Their work pays off, however, in making the world a safer place for local children.

“When you do a car seat safety inspection event, do you think 50 percent of them installed improperly?” Chief O’Brien asked Lt. West during a recent visit.

“Probably more than that,” Lt. West said. 

“I’m going to say probably 60 to 70 percent of car seats that come in are installed improperly,” Lt West said. “They’re either too loose, the wrong seat for the child, they’re out of date seats, or they’ve been involved in a crash. That’s a big push in the car seat industry, that anytime a car seat is involved in what they call a major collision where there’s major damage to a vehicle, the seat needs to be taken out of service and a new seat issued.”

In addition to the car seat technicians, Safe Kids Dalton has also trained 11 instructors in the North Georgia area in the past four years, and they in turn can train even more public safety officials to become car seat technicians.

According to Lt. West, Georgia law says that a child must be in a restraint device until reaching the age of 8 or the height of 4 feet, 9 inches.

“I get phone calls every day, asking when can my kid go in a booster seat?” Lt. West says. “Well, we don’t put an age on it. Your child is always safest in a five-point harness system  as long as they can be.”

State law also requires all children to be in rear-facing seats until they are 1 year old. “We actually recommend that a child stay rear facing as long as they can,” Lt. West said. “If a car seat says a child can use it until they’re 40 pounds rear facing, we recommend that. That is safest for the child, and the safest location in a car is always the middle of the rear seat.”

Lt. West says when a child does move up to a booster seat, the seat belt needs to hit in the right location.

“If it rides up on the neck,” he says, “it’s not safe. It needs to hit across the shoulder right across the chest at the proper angle, and their legs need to bend at the knees. All the kids are saying, ‘I want out of this seat, I want to get a booster seat, then I want to get out of a booster seat. They want to be big, but it doesn't make them safe. Bottom line, I don’t care if they’re 12, they really need to be in a bottom, backless booster until they reach 4 feet, 9 inches.”

Safe Kids Dalton is about more than just car seats, though.

“Safe Kids is an organization that teaches prevention of child injuries from ages 0 to 14,” Lt. West said. “That’s what we focus on. It’s car seat safety, it’s bicycle safety, pedestrian safety, boating safety, crosswalks – I mean, it’s numerous things. “

Lt. West said the Safe Kids Dalton program is funded by many sources, including the Roman Open, grants, and individual donations (which are tax-deductible).

“The more donations we take in,” Lt. West said, “the more seats we can put out.”

The bottom line for Safe Kids Dalton, he said, is simple.

“When people come in,” he said, “we try to make sure the child leaves safer than when he came in.”