PETERSBURG -- Mark Dillard pulled on his firefighting gear, turned on his air tank and began crawling across the floor.

Then, in a moment, he lay still. When he didn't move, a siren on his tank let out a shrill warning.

A few feet away, 50 or so students sat in awe.

A moment later, Dillard hopped up, and all was well.

And, as planned, all were better educated.

"I think that was cool," Zykia Vaughan, 9, said of Dillard's gear. "It's safe for you so you won't be burned."

. . .

Vaughan and the other students were at the National Guard Armory for the "Spring Break Be Red Cross Ready Camp" sponsored by the Southside Area Chapter of the American Red Cross. The weeklong camp is the culmination of an eight-week program geared to making Petersburg students more aware of what to do during a house fire or other disaster.

"We want to make disaster awareness a family issue," said Ted Jonas, emergency services director for the chapter.

For a little more than an hour Monday morning, the awareness came courtesy of the Petersburg Fire Department.

Capt. Elvin Jackson, a 32-year veteran of the department, wanted to share a simple message: Firefighters are there to help. Too often, he said, he has seen kids running from -- not to -- firefighters.

"When he comes at you with a flashlight, it looks like a beam," he told the students. "He appears out of the fog, like something strange coming at you.

"When you see that strange person crawling down the hall, you go to him and hug him and you say, 'Please help me.'"

. . .

Twins Jasmine and James Pegram, students at Robert E. Lee Elementary School, got the message.

"I learned if there's a fire, you shut the door and go to the window and jump out," James said. "Not kill yourself jump out, but safe jump out."

Jasmine took away respect for the uniform.

"I learned those clothes on your back help you from getting hurt."

Whatever it takes to get the message across is fine by Jackson. He never again wants to live through a year like last, when six Petersburg children died in house fires.

"It hit especially hard," he said.

"When you lose one child, it's one too many. When you lose six, it hits home."

Contact Zachary Reid at (804) 774-8179 or zreid@timesdispatch.com.