Fire Won’t Wait, Plan Your Escape is the theme of Fire Prevention Week now underway.

People are being encouraged to learn more about the steps they can take to plan an escape route and know what to do if a fire breaks out.

A home fire-escape plan includes two ways out of every level of your home, and the installation of smoke alarms on every level of your home, in every bedroom and outside each sleeping area.

Captain Gary Power of the St. John’s Regional Fire Department says smoke alarms should also be interconnected so that when one goes off, they all go off.

He says most businesses have an escape plan, but he suspects few people have an escape plan in their homes. Such plans allow all residents of a dwelling to know exactly what to do if they smell smoke, or if a fire alarm goes off.

Meanwhile, The St. John’s Regional Fire Department is giving kids the opportunity to become fire chief for the day as part of Fire Prevention Week.

Children ages 7 to 12 are encouraged to enter a poster contest under the theme ‘Fire Won’t Wait. Plan Your Escape.’

Posters demonstrating proper fire safety must be designed on an 8.5 x 11 paper and can be dropped off from now until Friday at the Fire Prevention Booth located in the Avalon Mall between the hours of 1:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and again on Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Posters can also be submitted at the department’s administration office from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. until Friday.

Parents are reminded to include their child’s name, age, school and phone number on the back of the poster.