A year ago, Grayslake North High School student Samuel Dummer helped extinguish a neighbor’s fire in his Round Lake Beach neighborhood.

Dummer, 16, credits his parents and Boy Scout training for teaching him how to handle a fire that nearly destroyed his neighbor Douglas Clark’s house.

Knowing what to do in a fire is exactly what firefighters and emergency personnel hope students and community members learn during National Fire Prevention Week, which began Oct. 7 and runs through Oct. 13. During this week local fire departments reach out to school districts and community organizations to make sure everyone is as informed and equipped as Dummer was on the day he helped his neighbor.