Golf used to warn kids about the dangers of fires

Firefighters in Wales have come up with an innovative way to teach children about the dangers of fires – by creating a unique and fun golf course in which every hole has a fire-related theme.

The Valleys Golf Enterprise has teamed up with South Wales Fire and Rescue to stage what they have called an ‘Urban Fire Golf’ event at the fire station in Merthyr Tydfil to help raise awareness of grass fires.

Children between the ages of eight and 14 were kitted out in fire fighters’ clothing and underwent fire drills before playing on a specially designed course using the fire service equipment.

European Tour professional Mark Mouland also took part in an education challenge – he hit five golf balls into the windows of the training tower.

A special nine-hole course was created, with each hole providing information about fires to the children.

“On Hole A, children hit numbered targets on the windows of the training building with smoke coming out of the building,” said a spokesman.

“On Hole B, children attempted to hit balls through the windows of the training building, with water sprayed to put them off!

“On Hole C, from the roof of the training block children attempted to hit Burnie, the fire service mascot, who was stood inside the cradle of the hydraulic platform.

“On Hole D, children chipped balls through a ring of fire. On Hole E they chipped as many balls as they could into a crashed car.

“By Hole F children putted balls through tubes around the amphibious vehicle. And on Hole G, they attempted to chip balls over the 4×4 vehicle and into tyres as fire fans were used to blow them off course.

“Hole H. Children attempted to hit balls through a water curtain and land them as close as possible to two targets.

“And on the final hole they putted as many balls as they could as the hydraulic cutting tools were moving around them.”

The spokesman explained the motivation for the event.

“Grass fires are serious crimes,” he said. “They endanger the lives of people and animals and threaten homes and businesses. Family and friends within your community are the ones who you will put at greatest risk, in particularly the elderly and vulnerable

“By having to tackle grass fires, firefighters are potentially unavailable for life threatening fires and road accidents elsewhere.

“All agencies want to engage with communities at every level to make deliberately setting grass fires as socially unacceptable as drink driving.

“We ask parents to be more aware of the whereabouts of their children and to impress upon them the important message that deliberate fires endanger lives.”