By Jon Schuppe
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
ROCKEFELLER CENTER — More than 2,000 New York City schoolchildren took oaths as "junior firefighters" Monday morning in a Rockefeller Center ceremony kicking off Fire Prevention Week.
Wearing red plastic replicas of New York Fire Department helmets, the children poured into the plaza, where they climbed aboard fire trucks, asked firefighters about their jobs and were encouraged to tell their families about what they'd learned about fire safety.
“The whole point of the day is to show them how to be safe in their homes,” said Lt. Anthony Mancuso, head of fire safety education for the FDNY.
The children had no trouble remembering the lessons.
“If there’s a fire, don’t take the elevator, only use the stairs,” added one of his classmates, Jonathan Gleason, 9.
The children were bused into Midtown from more than 50 grade schools across all five boroughs. The students from P.S. 63 joined Chief of Department Salvatore Cassano on a stage to recite the junior firefighter's pledge as hundreds of children followed along.
A few minutes earlier, they’d squealed as the FDNY mascot, Hot Dog, was rescued from a rooftop on a ladder truck.
“If you don’t have stuff to put out a fire like a fire extinguisher, you’ve got to buy one,” said Tony Jackson, 9, a fourth grader at P.S. 63 in Ozone Park, Queens.
The FDNY has a full schedule of Fire Prevention Week events, starting tomorrow with appearances at Jacob Riis Park in Brooklyn and Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens.
For more information on Fire Prevention Week events visit www.nyc.gov/fdny.
