ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 23, 1996 TAG: 9603250036
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
STUDENTS GOT A LESSON in what to do if fire strikes their homes. Among the things to remember, don't fear the firefighter.
Firefighter Robert Early crawled like a turtle around the floor at Wasena Elementary School. He wore a heavy fireproof uniform and a helmet with an air mask, and a tank of oxygen was strapped onto his back.
As Early moved around the room on his stomach, he stretched out his hands and arms as though he were searching for someone who might have been overcome by smoke.
For children at the Roanoke school, it was a vivid demonstration of how firefighters look for people in burning houses.
As Early twisted and turned along the floor, Assistant Fire Marshal David Deck told the young children not to hide under the bed or in a closet if they ever found themselves in a fire and a smoke-filled room.
"Don't run from the firefighter," he told the children. "Don't ever hide. He's there to help you get out."
Deck and Early were at Wasena Elementary as part of a concerted effort to provide fire-safety instruction to all 7,100 Roanoke students enrolled in kindergarten through fifth-grade. The program is the direct result of a January fire in which five people - four children and their grandmother - were killed.
The Fire Department has provided fire-safety classes for schoolchildren in the past, but this is the first time it has offered them to all elementary pupils within a two-week period.
"In the past, we have usually done it on request, and teachers have helped instruct the children on fire safety sometimes," Deck said. "But we're going to all elementary schools now while people are aware of this latest tragedy."
The victims in the January fire died in a house at 1228 Stewart Ave. S.E. that did not have smoke detectors.
At the beginning of the class, Deck holds up a smoke detector and asks the children if they know what it is. Most do, and most say they have detectors in their homes.
But a few say they don't, and Deck suggests that teachers send notes to their parents stressing the importance of smoke detectors.
He urges the children to remind their parents to check the detectors weekly to see if they are working and to change the batteries frequently.
"This thing is like your nose. It smells out the fire," he said.
As they answer Deck's questions, many children show they know basic fire safety principles - such as never to go back into a burning house to get something.
People who awaken to find their house afire should get out first and go to a neighbor's house to call 911 to report the blaze, Deck said.
He showed the Wasena children how to check before opening doors in a fire. They should press the backs of their hands against a door to determine if it is hot before opening it, he said. If the door is cool, it should be cracked open slightly at first to see if there is smoke in the next room, Deck said.
Second-grader Jermaine Stone and several other children demonstrated how to drop to the ground, cover their faces and roll over if their clothes caught fire.
Afterward, Heather Janney, a second-grader, said she would remember how to put out burning clothes because the demonstration stuck in her mind.
Deck urged the children to go home and tell their parents to have fire drills - just like the ones they have at school.
"Decide on how you will get out of the house, and decide on a meeting place for the family after you get out of the house," he said.
Roanoke school officials said they welcomed the Fire Department's offer to provide the classes.
"We want our children to worry the adult population to death about their safety," said Mary Hackley, director of elementary education.
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ROGER HART/Staff. Roanoke firefighter Robert Early showsby CNBstudents at Wasena Elementary School how he would approach them in a
burning house. color.