The Motto of the Boy Scouts of America is Be Prepared. In that spirit, every year before Halloween, Troop 581 holds its annual Disaster Day event. It’s a time to focus on emergency preparation, practice first aid skills and interact with some of Prince William County’s first responders. The troop took a break last year due to Covid-19 so everyone was excited to be able to participate this year. The troop also hosted about 30 Cub Scouts from local Packs who were able to interact with the Boy Scouts and First Responders and participate in all the events. The more experienced Boy Scouts provided instruction on various first aid skills including wound care and familiarization with CPR.
The highlight of Disaster Day is the opportunity to meet with local first responders to learn how they keep us safe. Members of the Prince William Fire Department brought their emergency vehicles and taught the Scouts about fire safety. They gave the Scouts a tour of their fire engine, taught scouts when to change the batteries in their smoke detectors and taught them what to do in case of a fire. They even brought fire extinguisher training equipment and each Scout was able to use a real fire extinguisher to put out a real fire!
It was another successful Disaster Day and Troop 581 looks forward to making it even more epic next year!