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A
SSOCIATED
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EWSPAPERS OF
M
ICHIGAN
P
AGE
4
December 15, 2011
C
ANTON
- P
LYMOUTH
- N
ORTHVILLE
Students receive
safety education grant
Canton fires prompt safety warning
High note
Following long-standing tradition, students from the music pro-
gram and Plymouth Centennial Educational Park entertained mem-
bers of the Plymouth Noon Rotary Club with songs of the holidays
during the club luncheon meeting last Friday. The group, under the
direction of Jennifer Kopp, won rave reviews from their rapt audi-
ence.
Photo by David Willett.
The Plymouth Canton Education
Park is among three high schools in
Wayne County which are the first in
the state to participate in a new,
potentially life-saving effort aimed
atmaking teens safer drivers.
The schools will each receive a
$2,000 grant funded by Strive For A
Safer Drive (S4SD), presented by
AAA Michigan, Ford Driving Skills
for Life (DSFL) and the Michigan
Office of Highway Safety Planning
(OHSP), to develop campaigns that
educate students peers about safe
driving. The goal of S4SD is to
reduce serious traffic crashes,
injuries and fatalities among the
most inexperienced state drivers.
As S4SD participants, Edsel
FordHighSchool, PlymouthCanton
Educational Park and Southgate
Anderson High School student
groups will create their own peer-
to-peer traffic safety-related cam-
paign focusing on seat belt use,
speeding,
underage
drinking/impaired driving and/or
distracteddriving.
Following three months of cam-
paign activities, the students will
prepare a summary detailing their
accomplishments and present the
reports to a group of S4SD repre-
sentatives. The schools determined
to have the top campaigns will be
eligible to send students to a free
hands-on driving clinic with profes-
sional driving instructors, put on by
theS4SDpartners.
High schools in the top counties
for teen traffic fatalities and serious
injuries were invited to apply for
S4SD. For more information, visit
www.michigan.gov/s4sd.
Two unrelated calls to the
Canton
Township
Fire
Department recently proved the
wisdom of exercising safety pre-
cautions around electricity and
cooking fires.
The first incident took place at
approximately 8:30 p.m. Nov. 29 as
firefighters were called to a
reported garage fire in the 44000
block ofNantucket.
Upon arrival, firefighters found
a two-story single-family house
with heavy smoke and flames
coming from the west side of the
attached garage, according to offi-
cial reports of the incident.
Because firefighters could not
determine if anyone was inside
the house, a
search and rescue operation
was immediately started, while
additional firefighters simultane-
ously began to extinguish the
flames.
It was later determined that no
onewas inside the home.
The flames were extinguished
and fire damage was contained to
the garage, with smoke damage
throughout the house and garage,
the report indicated.
The fire was determined to be
accidental in nature, caused by an
extension cord overloaded with
several sets of Christmas lights.
No one was injured during the
incident.
"This unfortunate incident
should serve as a reminder to the
importance of following recom-
mended safety precautions, espe-
cially during the holiday season,"
saidFireChief TimothyDunn.
In an unrelated call at 10 a.m.
Wednesday, Nov. 30, the Canton
Fire Department received a gen-
eral fire alarm for the sixth floor
of the Canton Place senior build-
ing located at 44505FordRoad.
Upon arrival firefighters heard
the building alarm sounding and
were notified there was a fire on
the sixth floor. Firefighters made
their way up the stairwell with
high rise packs (hose lines),
forcible entry tools and a fire
extinguisher, according to official
reports. On the sixth floor they
found light smoke and the unit's
only occupant in the hallway.
Firefighter-paramedics took
the occupant to the first floor to
assess her injuries and medical
condition, while additional fire-
fightersmade entry into the apart-
ment.
Inside the unit they found
heavy smoke conditions and the
sprinkler system activated. It was
quickly determined that water
from the sprinkler system had
extinguished the fire. The sprin-
kler systemwas then shut down to
minimize damage to the rest of
the building. Firefighters began
ventilation of the fire unit and the
sixth floor to remove remaining
smoke.
The fire was determined to be
accidental in nature. An unattend-
ed flame burning caught a cabinet
on fire and subsequently set off
the building alarm and sprinkler
system.
The occupant of the fire unit
suffered from smoke inhalation.
She was treated and transported
to an area hospital with non-life
threatening injuries.
Hobnobbing
Ross Matthews, who is Ross the
Intern on the NBC Tonight Show,
smiles for the camera with Northville
residents Alyssa Merandi, left, and
Anne Thurber, at the Parade
Company's Hob Nobble Gobble at
Ford Field. Attendees got a chance
to get up close and personal with the
star participants in America's
Thanksgiving Parade, enjoyed
refreshments, carnival rides and
entertainment.
Photo by David L. Malhalab M
News Service