Need help with a car seat? Tuscaloosa Fire Rescue is happy to help

By WVUA 23 News Reporter A’Leeyah Ponder

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey recently awarded more than $200,000 to the Alabama Department of Public Health so they can help residents learn the proper use of child passenger restraint seats.

But like many fire stations around the state, Tuscaloosa Fire Rescue Station 1 is ready and willing to help anyone who needs help figuring out their car seats.

Ensuring your children are safely buckled in and protected in case of an emergency is something all parents may stress about. So if you’re afraid you’ve missed a step or aren’t certain a restraint is installed properly, your nearest fire department will almost always have the answer.

You might think getting the car seat in the car and buckled in is enough, but car seats must fit your child’s height and weight, too.

“If a child is not in a proper child restraint or that child restraint is not put in the car correctly, they are a lot more likely to be injured,” said TFR Station 1 Firefighter Eric Richburg.

One major misstep parents or guardians can make is buying a used car seat, Richburg said. While it will save money, it may not keep your child safe in the event of an accident.

“Child passenger seats cannot do their jobs of protecting children in crashes if they are improperly installed or used,” Ivey said in a statement. “The Alabama Department of Public Health will use funds to train child-seat installation technicians who will participate in numerous how-to clinics and seminars throughout the state.”

In addition to the training, funds will be used to upgrade software to help the state monitor areas of child-restraint seat use in the state so that resources can be best spent in specific areas.

The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs is administering the grants from funds made available by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.