The third floor is a long way from the ground, but the building was on fire. Bill Gabrenya was getting ready to jump as flames billowed out of a window one flight below.
But 100 5th-grade students from Winston Park School talked him out of it.
“Don’t jump!” they shouted. So, Gabrenya stayed put until Palatine firefighter Colin Finley raised a ladder from a truck to the third floor so Gabrenya could climb down.
Gabrenya, also a Palatine firefighter, was posing as a child trapped in a burning building.
The demonstration was done for the children and for Illinois Schools Supt. Joseph Spagnolo to show how fire can spread and how to exit a burning building properly.
The demonstration was conducted at a three-story building on Illinois Street where the Fire Department occasionally sets fires for safety demonstrations.
Spagnolo said he would like to see this fire-education program expanded statewide.
The 5th graders were taught to crawl on the floor as a way to get the most oxygen if caught in a fire. They were also taught how to extinguish small fires.
