CLAREMORE — When a smoldering cigarette burned a house with no functioning smoke alarm last February, Claremore fireman Mark Owens was there.

So was a 57-year-old woman asleep in her bedroom shortly before 3 a.m., when she probably inhaled a lethal dose of smoke well before the fire touched her body.

It’s not the only preventable death Owens has seen as a first responder, but he’s setting out to make it one of the last — courtesy of the message he’ll deliver to Claremore families next week.

Like the dozens of emergency personnel from Claremore’s fire and police departments set to make appearances at a community safety festival June 26, Owens has first-hand experience with what he says is the deadliest factor in emergency situations: human error.

“A great number of deaths would be prevented” by minimizing risks and taking safety seriously, he said. “We respond to thousands of calls, so thousands of times a year someone’s having a bad day. Chances are, it could happen to you.”

Interim Claremore Fire Chief Matt Wilson said the department has already responded to about 900 calls this year and is on pace to match last year’s 1,947. Most of those were the result of misplaced cigarettes, candles, unattended cooking or poor health decisions — all preventable scenarios.

That’s reason enough to participate in the Centrilift-sponsored safety festival, Owen says.

Along with Claremore police, Oklahoma highway patrol and safety supervisors from the Claremore Centrilift plant, the fire department will present a host of safety education scenarios at Claremore High School to teach children and their parents techniques for saving their own lives during emergencies.

Organizers at Centrilift, a Baker Hughes company, say the festival is just another way to teach families what workers at the Claremore plant must practice every day — safety. And with games, contests and prizes, they hope the festival will help take the edge off a topic many children view as boring.

“We want to make safety fun,” said Beatrice Loftin, a company safety organizer. “Every day we come across potentially hazardous situations, even just riding your bike. It’s a way to get the children out there and let them experience things for the first time.”

The fire department will set up a mock burning house where children will learn how to roll off the bed, crawl below smoke and escape a house fire. There will also be lessons on using fire extinguishers to put out mock fires.

Claremore police and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol will have a canine unit and infant car seat checks — checking for optimum car seat conditions, such as height and tightness.

Owens said at least three out of four car seats are incorrectly installed or used, whether they’re too loose or too big for small children. Injuries caused by inadequate car seats are common at crash scenes, he said.

A Jupiter Jump, clown, concessions, fireworks safety stand and t-shirt giveaway booths will also be available.

But the point, organizers say, is improving the next generation — keeping preventable situations off the news.

“All the efforts we take at work, we take to the community,” said Centrilift Safety Manager Bill Cobbs. “One of the things we want to do is promote safety outside the workplace.”

For Owens, promoting safety is part of the job.

“Someone’s having the worst day of their life every day,” he said. “When you call 911, it’s usually the worst day of your life, so our job is to go to that person and make it better.

“It can be kind of nerve-wracking, but you've got to step outside yourself and know you've got a job to do.”

Although medics and police called first responders, families are the real first responders — at the scene before anyone else. That’s why safety training is so important, Owens said.

Having an emergency exit plan in case of a house fire is one thing families can do immediately, he said.

Checking smoke detector batteries is also important — not just because it’s the law, but because at least one Claremore resident this year could have been saved by working detectors.

“Having working smoke detectors is so important,” he said.