Have an escape route in the event of a fire in your house, check the batteries in your smoke detector regularly and, above all, don’t play with matches.

These are the lessons every child should be aware of during Fire Prevention Week, from Oct. 4-10, and the lessons three East Rockingham firefighters told students of Rohanen Middle School during a Tuesday assembly.

After the school’s eighth graders were seated in the bleachers yesterday afternoon, firefighter Randy Stubbs asked them all if they had an escape route planned. He was joined by Lt. Firefighter Kevin Bowman and Firefighter Bryan Lee of the East Rockingham Fire Department Tuesday.

“Do you go out of the front door or the back door?” Stubbs called out to his audience in the raucous gym, receiving hundreds of responses. “Do you go back into the house when it’s on fire?”

The second question was an easier answer for the group, which shouted nearly in unison - “NO!”

Eighth grader Caulton Tourtellotte elaborated on his answer.

“It’s not worth it,” he said. “You can just buy another one or replace it, but you don’t want to get burned up.”

This year’s theme for Fire Prevention Week is “Stay Fire Smart! Don’t Get Burned!” Bowman explained.

“I’ve had a lot of parents tell me that what we’ve taught in the school has helped their kids,” Bowman said. “They’ve told me that it teaches them not to play with matches, as well as the safety tips. Especially with the smaller kids, a lot of them want to play with matches, and they’ll watch the videos we show, and see what it can do and decide not to.”

Monday, Stubbs said the firefighters visited Rohanen Primary, where they shared “a pretty special moment” with one first grader.

“We gave him a little badge, and made him an honorary firefighter,” he recalled. “It really made his day, and his teacher said when he got back to the classroom he was telling all the other kids not to mess with his badge.”

Tuesday, the firefighters used a contest to engage the students and let them have a little fun in hopes the lessons would sink in more.

Students from each grade had three heats rolling up a fire hose, which is something any volunteer firefighter is well-acquainted with. Then the three winners competed to come out with one winner from each grade. The winner received a free buffet and drink at Pizza Inn.

The sixth grade winner was Edward Causey, while seventh grader Taylor McKenzie captured the title in her grade and Kimberlin Hoskins won from the eighth grade.

Mary Gainey is a corrective reading instructor at the middle school, in addition to being a volunteer with the Cordova Fire Department.

She said it is important to reach students at the middle school age with the lessons of fire safety.

“A lot of them don’t learn it at home,” she said. “And a lot of them have younger siblings, and they can help the smaller children get out of the house or go where they need to go if there is a fire in the home.”

Bowman also pointed out the middle school age is an experimental age.

“They’re getting up at that age where they want to do things for themselves,” he said. “They want to start cooking, and of course play with matches, and these things present a fire hazard. It’s important they know what can happen and how to react.”

A coloring sheet with Sparky the Dog and his five steps to fire safety designed for children, and other resources from the National Fire Prevention Association, can be found on the Internet at www.nfpa.org.

Sparky tells children the five steps to getting out of the house are to know the floor plan, have two ways out, make sure the smoke alarm is working, have a meeting place outside and to practice your family’s plan.

There is also more fire safety information available on the East Rockingham Fire Department’s Web site, located on the Internet at www.erfdnc.org.