ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 5, 1997 TAG: 9704070082
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH
SOURCE: JANIE BRYANT LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
The $32,000 RV in use in Portsmouth has fog instead of smoke and heating elements instead of flames.
The bedroom door was hot to the touch, and smoke was swirling up to the ceiling.
So 10-year-old Melvina Liverman backed up on her hands and knees and crawled out the patio doors to safety.
She wasn't afraid. There was no reason to be.
The only thing heating the door was a controlled heating element, and the smoke pouring from a vent came from a fog machine.
Melvina and the rest of her class from Mount Hermon Elementary School were the first children to break in the Kids' Safety House - Portsmouth's newest teaching tool.
``It was a good experience,'' said Melvina, after emerging into the fresh air and sunlight.
After a recent ribbon-cutting ceremony, the $32,000 RV is ready to travel around the city, giving children - and adults - hands-on instruction on everything from fire safety to burglary prevention.
Jeanette Hentze, a Portsmouth firefighter who has been teaching fire prevention to fourth-graders for three years, got the idea for the mobile unit at an educational conference.
She wanted one for Portsmouth that was already equipped and that would be accessible to children and people with disabilities.
Fire Chief Donald Newberry thought it was a good idea. He told her he would request it in the city's Capital Improvement Plan, but with all the firefighting equipment the city needed, it would take awhile.
So Hentze decided to raise the funds from the private sector. She got help from Andy Alvarez, planning and research manager for the Portsmouth Police Department.
``I've been trying to raise money for the past two years,'' Hentze said.
Last year, she visited a burn camp for children who had been injured in fires. It broke her heart to see children living with their scars.
That helped keep her on track.
The money for Kids' Safety House was donated by about a dozen organizations and businesses, including $10,000 each from the Beazley Foundation - a local philanthropic organization - and Hoechst-Celanese, a chemical company. Almost $9,000 came from Allstate.
Kids' Safety House is now ready to make stops at schools to reinforce classroom instruction.
It also will be used at area events that draw families, Hentze said.
LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: RICHARD L. DUNSTON/LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE. Melvinaby CNBLiverman exits a "smoke"-filled room of the Kids' Safety House. She
called it "a good experience."