Safe Kids Rutherford / Polk
Spindale Fire Rescue is proud to be the lead agency for Safe Kids Rutherford / Polk. Our partnership with other local fire departments, law enforcement agencies, community, private, civic organizations and other individual volunteers from Rutherford and Polk Counties help to make up our membership.
Programs offered by our Safe Kids:
Child Passenger Safety
The BRAKES program (Teen Driving)
Water & Swimming Safety
Home Safety (Escape Plans, Smoke Alarms, furniture tethers)
Safe shooting sports - Gun & hunting safety, team & competition archery for youth
Safe Sitting - Child Care Classes
STAR Program
and more.
CHILD PASSENGER SEAT INSPECTIONS
(Click the above link to learn more about child passenger safety)
Child Passenger seat inspections are free & available by appointment only at the following Locations:
(***Please call first to make an appointment / Trained Child Passenger Technicians may only be available during normal weekday business hours from 9a-5p)
***Forest City Fire Rescue - 186 S. Church St. - Forest City, NC 28043 - (828) 245-2111
***Columbus Fire Department - 100 S. Peak St. - Columbus, NC 28722 - (828) 894-3667
***Rutherfordton Fire Rescue - 144 N Mitchell St. - Rutherfordton, NC - (828) 287-7367
***Spindale Fire Recue - 125 Reveley St. - Spindale, NC 28160 - (828) 286-3465
THE CPS DIVERSION PROGRAM
If you have received an improper child seat restraint ticket from a police officer please read this section carefully.
DIVERSION IS HELD ONCE EACH MONTH AT DIFFERENT LOCATIONS.
Please do not call the fire or police departments, they cannot assist you with the CPS diversion schedule
FOR AN APPOINTMENT AND LOCATION, CALL SAFE KIDS RUTHERFORD/POLK: (828) 447-1866
(Leave a message someone will return your call)
Safe Kids volunteers are here to help educate you on child passenger safety, and assist with reducing injuries or even death to your child.
This is a free service that could save you court costs and the amount of the traffic fine.
The Diversion process can take 1 hour or more of your time depending on the amount of participants, so please be patient.
This is a one-on-one live class due to confirmation of proper installation and further instruction and cannot be done remotely.
Failure to bring needed items are your individual responsibility.
The items listed below are mandatory with the regulations set forth by each local court system.
If you fail to follow the rules, Safe Kids reserves the right to dismiss you from the program at their discretion.
If you are dismissed, you will then be expected to pay your fine in full to the court system on your court date.
* ITEMS YOU MUST HAVE WHEN YOU COME TO DIVERSION*
1 - THE CHILD OR CHILDREN THAT WERE IMPROPERLY RESTRAINED IN VEHICLE
2 - THE DRIVER OF THE VEHICLE
3 - THE CITATION
4- YOUR DRIVERS LICENSE
5 - THE VEHICLE YOU WERE DRIVING WHEN YOU RECEIVED THE CITATION OR ANOTHER VEHICLE REGISTERED TO YOU.
6 - APPROPRIATE CHILD PASSENGER SEAT, BOOSTER, ETC.
IF YOU ARRIVE TO THE APPOINTMENT LATE OR WITHOUT ONE OF THE ABOVE ITEMS, SAFE KIDS WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ASSIST YOU WITH THE DIVERSION, AND YOU WILL BE EXPECTED TO PAY THE FULL CITATION AMOUNT ON YOUR COURT DATE, NO EXCEPTIONS.
Safe Kids Seat Check Saturday, Held annually in September.
Safe Kids Rutherford / Polk celebrates Fire Safety Week the first week of October each year.
2023 Board of Directors:
Coordinator: Jamie Guillermo
Co-Coordinator: Sara Thorne
Secretary: Wendy Craig
Treasurer: Joyce Ferguson
Safe Kids Advisor: Dr. Chris Burley
Buckle Up/CPS/Diversion administrator: Tracy Guillermo
STAR Program administrator: Brian Gooch
Polk County CPS & Injury prev. Contact: Andrew Kegley
Social Media: Ashley Harris-Norwood
Follow Safe Kids Rutherford Polk on our Facebook to learn more about our ongoing events.
(link below)
