Western Salisbury Fire Department volunteers visited the four elementary schools in the western portion of the township last week to take their message of fire prevention and fire safety to youngsters in grades kindergarten through five.

The visits continue a five decade tradition of impressing on township youngsters the principles of fire safety and the notion firefighters are their friends.

The school programs take place during National Fire Prevention Week which takes place every October during the week in which Oct. 9 falls. Oct. 9 is the day of the Great Chicago Fire in 1871 that killed at least 300 people, left a third of the city's populace homeless and burned 3.3 square miles of homes and businesses.

The national fire prevention week theme for 2013 is kitchen fire safety and program presenter WSFD Fire Chief Joshua Wells told the youngsters about a number of precautions to keep them safe around cooking utensils.

The subtext of the school presentations, though, were familiar notions from year to year: do not play with matches or lighters, know two ways to escape from your home should a fire break out, get out and stay out of a burning building, have a predetermined place for family members to meet, encourage parents to have home fire drills and know how to use 911.

Wells also encouraged students to take the message to their parents that every bedroom in a home should have a smoke detector.

A big part of every program each year is watching firefighters go from street clothes to full protective gear, item by item

"We want the youngster to see that under all that bulky turnout gear is an everyday person who has come to help them," Wells said. In a dark or smoky fire situation, having someone crawling around in heavy gear and breathing through a self-contained breathing apparatus can be 'scary' to a young person.

"We encourage youngsters to see that firefighter as someone there to help them and not to hide from them," Wells said.

At the Swain School, teacher Abby Monahan, who is also a Whitehall volunteer firefighter, brings her gear to the school program and gives students a familiar figure who transforms into a firefighter. The firefighters crawl among the students, shaking hands, high-fiving and letting the youngsters tap on their gear.

After being told by Wells "firefighters are your friends" at the St. Thomas More School program, two young students spontaneously enveloped geared-up firefighter Jon Hucko in a big bear hug as he crawled among the youngsters.

In the program at Lehigh Christian Academy and St. Thomas More School Oct. 8, and at Western Salisbury Elementary School Oct. 9, favorable weather allowed the students to see firefighters use a hoseline, and to witness Wells rappel down a rope line attached to the department's extended aerial ladder truck.

Wells usually teases the students a bit, asking them if they'd like to see the rope descent. Invariably, he is met by cries of "Do it, do it, do it." The rope skill demonstration is invariably the most anticipated part of the school programs.

On Oct. 10, inclement weather limited Swain School students to an indoor program. To compensate, firefighters brought fire hand tools and vehicle rescue "jaws of life" tools inside to demonstrate a part of the firefighter tool kit not included in outdoor demonstrations.

Eastern Salisbury Fire Department firefighters plan to take their fire prevention message to Harry S Truman Elementary School students at an all-day program Oct. 21.