Tayah Brickey-Scott's wide-eyed stare was only matched by her ear-to-ear smile.

Unlike some of her Ironton Head Start peers, the 5-year-old was not intimidated by the Ironton firefighters Wednesday. She certainly wasn't scared of Max, the fire dog either.

More than a dozen 4- and 5-year-old children from Head Start visited the Ironton Fire Station to learn a little about fire safety through an electronic presentation featuring the firestopping canine and to get a hands-on look at the towering new station.

Of course, the bright red fire trucks were the biggest appeal.

"I really like the fire trucks," said Xavier Livingston.

"Yeah, me too," chimed in Jaron Koster.

So what do the firemen do?

"They spray out the fires," Koster said matter-of-factly as he rolled his eyes at the elementary question.

Getting the children introduced to fire safety can never start too soon, said firefighter John Leach.

"It gets them started and gets fire safety in their heads at a young age," he said. "Since we go to the schools every year, we can see how they progress. Next year some of these kids will remember stop, drop and roll."

Stopping and dropping were two things they weren't too interested in Wednesday. They were however, ready to roll, run and dash through the building.

Still, all the firefighters said they believe that by starting early the children may know what to do when it counts. All hoped it will never be needed.