It’s not every day that four healthy elementary-school students in Washington get out of school to ride fire engines and/or ambulances to a pizza party, but it happens one day each October for students at John Small Elementary School.

The students are transported from a classroom or the cafeteria by stretcher to a waiting fire engine and ambulance. Those rides are a tradition for winners of the annual contest in which students develop escape plans for their homes should those homes ever catch on fire. The plans are part of the Great Escape Plan Challenge’s exit drills in the home competition sponsored by the Washington Fire-Rescue-EMS Department.

Four students are rewarded each year for preparing and submitting the top entries in the Exit Drill in the Home project. Their reward is a trip to fire station No. 1, a pizza lunch there, receiving certificates noting their accomplishments and a chance to view fire-fighting equipment. EDITH offers every student a chance to participate in drawing an aerial view of his or her house, showing two routes out of each room, placement of smoke detectors and a gathering place where family members meet to be accounted for during a fire emergency, according to Josh Ingram, an engineer and the department’s public education coordinator.

“You guys did exactly what we wanted to see,” Ingram told the students.

The students said they realized the importance of the project and that it would take some effort on their part to come up with good plans.

“It was a little hard. You had to walk around your house and draw everything,” said Jordan Carroll, adding the project required him to do some research before he could develop his plan.

Jordan’s father is firefighter with the Clark’s Neck Volunteer Fire Department.

At fire station No. 1, Jordan and the other students were treated to a tour of the station and got to go up and down in the department’s ladder truck. “We learned about how the old fire trucks worked and how they were used,” fourth-grader Jordan said about the tour.

“Something I learned is that we always have to be ready just in case something happens at any time,” said Dulce Monter, the only girl in the group and a fifth-grader.

“It was a big surprise,” Dulce said of her selection as one of the four winners.

At first, Daniel Hernandez did not understand why he was being pulled out of class. When he learned the reason, he smiled.

“I learned that having a safe place, good smoke alarms and exits out of your house is important,” said fourth-grader Daniel, noting it took a “long time” to develop his plan because he had to first understand the layout of his home so he could draw a plan that would work in case of a fire.

Fifth-grader Reid Apple explained what he learned from the project: “That you need to have a plan if you have a fire or if you are just doing a drill.”

Reid said it took him about 30 to 40 minutes to draw his plan.

The event is one of several designed to impart the importance of fire safety to students in several area schools and their families. Entries are judged by three judges, Ingram said.