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QUINCY, ILL. -- Close to 500 people merged outside the Quincy Mall for a crash course in fire safety Saturday.

The Quincy Fire Department held the event, kicking off a nationwide Fire Safety Awareness Week.

This is part of a number of ways the fire department spreads the word about fire safety. During the year, firefighters take a fire safety house to different schools around the area to teach students the importance of a second escape route, besides the front door.

Quincy Firefighter Jerry Smith thinks this is a good way to get children involved and educated in how to handle an emergency.

"Every class we go to seems to have kids who say, I sleep on the second floor, and that they don't have a second way out. Our big message this year is to have two ways out of the house," Smith said.

Some of the stations set up at the mall included an obstacle course where kids could dress in a firefighters uniform and drag a weighted dummy, use a fire hose, and learn escape routes in the fire safety house.