FREDERICKTOWN — Firefighters have been busy during Fire Prevention Week, teaching local school children about fire safety.

Even the youngest students have been treated to puppet shows, trips to the firehouse and hands-on exposure to fire trucks and firefighting gear.

“Magic Tom,” also known as Tom Rozoff, used magic tricks and games to teach fire safety lessons to preschool, kindergarten and first-grade students at the Fredericktown Primary School on Wednesday.

“We might think we know what to do because we’ve had fire drills, but that might not be the case,” Magic Tom told the students.

He went over the three steps children should take when a fire alarm sounds at school. He told the students they should remain calm, drop what they are doing and line up, and follow their teachers’ instructions.

Fire safety lessons geared for young children were stressed. The importance of not opening a door which feels hot, crawling low to the ground in a smoke filled room, and learning to call 9-1-1 were all discussed.

Children were told once they safely leave a burning house, they should never go back inside, even for a beloved pet which may still be in the house.

Magic Tom used a small doll and stuffed puppy in a magic trick to illustrate the point. He used a handkerchief to make the doll disappear; it reappeared in a “safe place” inside a box several feet away.

The puppy did not reappear with the doll, however.

“Whose job is it to get your pets out of the house?” Magic Tom asked the children.

Nearly all the students pointed to Fredericktown Fire Chief Scott Mast, who stood nearby watching the magic show. Mast “magically” pulled the puppy out of his back pocket.

“Our firefighters have the right equipment and the right training to get your puppy out,” Magic Tom said.

A puppet named “Uncle Vinny,” a retired fire inspector, also interacted with the children. Vinny helped the boys and girls compete against each other in a contest where each group answered questions about fire safety.

The Fredericktown Fire Department purchased a smoke detector for each of the 91 kindergartners in the Fredericktown school. Mast told the kindergartners how important smoke detectors are for families. He said the department wanted to impress the importance of fire safety on children at a young age, when they are learning other fundamentals.

In Bladensburg, preschool and kindergarten students were brought to the Bladensburg Fire Department to see and experience the equipment firsthand.

Chief Nick Cockrell asked the kindergartners if they could find the ladders on the fire engine. After looking all around the truck, the children were shown doors on the back of the truck, which opened to reveal the ladders.

After the children were shown a video about Sparky the Fire Dog, a meeting room in the back of the firehouse was filled with “smoke” provided by a fog machine.

Firefighters taught the children how to crawl on the ground under the smoke, to safely leave a smoky room. “Stay low and go” is a phrase children hear often during Fire Prevention Week.

After the kindergartners crawled through the dark, smoky room, firefighter Isaac Hershberger crawled in to show the children what a firefighter in full gear looks, and sounds, like during a search and rescue.

The hissing of his air pack, and the muffled sound of his voice helped the children see that what may look and sound scary at first, are things that cannot hurt them.

EMT Angie Ogilbee told the young students how important it is not to hide from firefighters who may be in the house looking for them during an emergency. “If a fireman cannot find you, he cannot save you,” Ogilbee said. “Firemen are not scary, they are here to save you and protect you.”

Kindergartner Garrett Calbert said after the demonstration the firefighter had looked “a little scary” at first, but talking with the fireman and trying on his gear showed him he was there to help.

Students were also reminded to stop, drop, cover and roll if they ever find their clothes have caught fire.

Ogilbee reminded the children that everything in the house was replaceable except for them.

“Your mom and dad can never get a new one of you,” Ogilbee told the children.

When it was time to return to school, goody bags with new plastic firehats and fire prevention information went home with each of them.

Principal Steve Rose said 99 students had been on a firehouse visit on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Kindergartner Isabelle Bobo said the whole trip was fun, but she liked the crawling through the smoke the best.

“I didn’t think it was scary,” she said.

After putting on a firefighter’s turnout coat, Logan Adams said it wasn’t as heavy as he thought it would be.

“Seeing the fire trucks was the best part,” Logan said at the end of the visit. “I’ve never been on a fire truck before.”