Limmer was stunned a Forest Township firetruck arrived at his neighbor's burning home off of Dodge Road, spewing water into the street.

"It looked like a wave coming out of the firetruck from the top of the hill all the way down. If it wasn't tragic, it would've been comedic," Limmer said. "I'm more terrified than I am mad. We gotta fix this so it doesn't cost somebody their life."  

Forest Township Fire Chief David Lutze said the truck is 15 years old and the department has never had a problem before.

The department teaches the students about fire safety during Fire Prevention Week, which was Oct. 8-14, but the department wants the messages to stick with the students, said Quentin Buffington, firefighter/fire prevention officer/public information officer. Buffington drove the fire truck Monday with Dan Zilm, assistant fire chief.  

The department then introduced an optional project to the students.

To be eligible to win the ride, the students had to complete and return a drawing of their home that included two ways of exit from each room and indicate the location of smoke alarms. The students also had to write down an emergency phone number and a meeting place outside the home in case of an emergency. After seeing all those pieces of information, the firefighters narrowed the completed entries down to the best plans.