By Martha J. Henderson

Design Editor

"Stop, drop and roll."

Children are taught from an early age that these are the actions to take should their clothing catch on fire.

Teaching children what to do should they encounter smoke or flames in their homes is a little more complicated.

A fire safety house is an effective tool for teaching children kitchen safety, exit drills and other home safety tactics, precautions and proper safety procedures in the event of a fire.

Using a fire safety house, the Carthage Fire Department will be presenting fire safety techniques to children during the 22nd annual Carthage Buggy Festival, Saturday, May 8.

Property of the Moore County Fire Chiefs Association, the fire safety house is a mobile travel trailer that has been turned into a scaled-down, "kid-sized" functional house. The two-story house is complete with kitchen and stove, a dining/living room area and two beds upstairs. There even is a fire escape accessible through an upstairs window.

The fire safety house is designed to look as a room would in real life and are used to explain what one would do in case of a fire in the home. Children can locate potential fire hazards and practice simple methods of eliminating potentially dangerous situations.

Carthage Fire Chief Brian Tyner says Carthage firemen and volunteers will be giving demonstrations of fire safety to children throughout the day during the festival.

"We'll show the kids how to exit the home properly in an emergency," Tyner says. "They'll learn to crawl instead of walking through smoke and to check the doors for heat. We'll teach them about smoke detectors and they'll learn how to stop, drop and roll."

Built by the Moore County Home Builders Association in conjunction with the Fire Chiefs Association the fire safety house has been used by area fire departments to teach fire safety to children for many years.