Kids learn safety by crawling through simulated burning home

White City, Ore — Educating kids about fire danger usually starts at an early age.

For one group that meant literally crawling their way to safety and learning a big lesson on the way.

The smoke may be fake, but the danger is real.

“We’re learning how to escape if there’s ever a fire,” said Braylee Schoneberger

Schoneberger and her Jewett Elementary classmates, stopped, dropped, and crawled their way through a simulated fire at Fire District 3’s headquarters Thursday.

“We brought the kids into a home like environment like a kitchen or a living room, taught them how to find 2 ways out of each of those spaces including their bedrooms and then filled it full of fake smoke and gave them the opportunity to practice escaping through a window,” said Deputy Fire Marshal Mark Northrup.

The third graders first learned the best way to find a route to safety.

“You feel the door, and if the door’s hot you know that there’s a fire and you can go out the window,” said Schoneberger.

Then they crawled beneath the smoke, making their way to a window and to a designated meeting place away from the house.

“They’re gonna remember going to the fire station, they’re going to remember crawling through the smoke, they’re going to remember safety’s important and and it’s something that they need to practice at home even when they have kids,” said Northrup.

So if there ever is a fire, these kids know exactly what to do.

“Because if you practice, and there’s an actual fire, you can do what you were practicing,” said Schoneberger.

This is also National Fire Prevention Week. Fire District 3 is partnering with the Red Cross this weekend to install smoke alarms in 450 homes in central point and white city.