Be it a house fire, carbon monoxide leaking within the home or even a child abduction, an emergency can arise at any given moment.

And when it does a quick reaction can often mean the difference between life and death.

“The worst thing that a person can do during a house fire is to try and put the fire out themselves,” said Mike McNabb, a firefighter and EMT with the Aurelius Fire Department during a Fire Prevention and Child Safety program held at the Home Depot in Aurelius Saturday afternoon. “No matter how small the fire they should always call the fire department because that is what we train for 365 days a year.

In addition to providing tours of the department's fire truck and offering fire prevention tips, the department thought that it would be a good idea to show children what a fireman in full turnout gear looks like.

Ron Quill, who has been with both the Auburn and Aurelius fire departments for more than 20 years, said he has seen in an emergency fire situation many children run and hide from a fireman in full gear.

Quill said that many children find that a fireman can resemble the Star Wars character Darth Vader when they are in full suit, which includes a breathing mask hiding the face.

“The situation is already quite scary for a child,” he said. “And when a child is caught in a burning building and all they can see is this person who resembles Darth Vader coming at them in the dark, the situation becomes even more frightening for them. They often run away from us and hide under a bed or in a closet.”

“Part of our job in these situations are to think the way a scared child would,” McNabb added.

Also at the event was the Cayuga County Sheriff's Office, which wants people to know about is the reality of a child abduction.

As part of the department's child safety awareness program, John Nedza and Paul Benton were on hand to create Safe Child ID cards.

The plastic cards, which are about the size of a credit card, are created instantly and hold pertinent information about the child.

“The information is also stored in a database that will be distributed to the Amber Alert information system within 20 minutes,” Nedza said. “This means that all police and other official departments will be notified of the missing child, as well as all state lottery sellers will also have the information within a matter of minutes.”

Once the information is registered within the database, it cannot be accessed again until it is needed in the event of an emergency.

Benton said that he has seen these kinds of safety procedures sold at malls and other locations for upwards of $50 or more, but the sheriff's department offers this service to the public for free.

For 5-year-old Cory Anthony, whose father brought him to the safety event and had him registered in the Safe Child database, the process was “cool. Children received safety coloring books, stickers and pencils after the fingerprinting and photo taking.