"This proves fire safety education works!" That's what fire safety educator Eileen Magin said April 10 when three sisters received recognition for putting what they had learned to work. Magin, Spencerport Fire Chief Chris Wood, and Fire Prevention Officer Mitch Flagg (shown back row left to right), joined Mairead, Shauna and Caitlin Fitzgibbon and their parents, Mike and Maggie, for a gathering at Spencerport's Taylor Elementary School. The children used their fire safety knowledge when smoke alarms went off in their home, and followed the exit drill plans they had practiced to get themselves and their family out of the house. Photograph for Westside News Inc. by Walter Horylev.

In the early morning hours of January 29, 2001, the Fitzgibbon sisters - eight-year-old Shauna, nine-year-old Mairead, and 12-year-old Caitlin - put their Fire Prevention Week knowledge into action. The girls' parents, Maggie and Michael Fitzgibbon, woke to the sound of their smoke alarms going off. They immediately went to wake their daughters. They found their youngest daughter, Shauna, already awake and carefully crawling along the floor to her bedroom door. After waking Mairead and Caitlin, Mairead said, "We need to get to our meeting place." Once at their outside meeting place, Michael didn't see any visible signs of smoke, and attempted to go back inside to get his cell phone. Mairead, very angrily, told him that he was not supposed to go back inside.

Luckily, the incident turned out to be a false alarm. Although the fire department could not find a reason for the smoke alarms going off, all three girls knew what to do in case of a fire. The family had practiced home fire escapes for several years as part of the Spencerport Fire Department's annual community-wide E.D.I.T.H. Drill for Fire Prevention Week "The Great Escape." The children also learned National Fire Prevention Association's Learn Not to Burn® program at the Terry A. Taylor Elementary School in Spencerport.

In fire safety education we are always looking for evidence that lessons are learned, understood and used in the event of an emergency or the potential threat to life, said fire safety educator Eileen Magin. She sent a description of an incident that occurred in Spencerport on January 29 to the National Fire Protection Association. On April 10 at Terry Taylor Elementary School in Spencerport, fire officials joined the Fitzgibbon family after certificates of recognition were presented.