Rescue 1 Fire Safety for Kids, a nonprofit fire safety program run by firefighters in Grand Rapids, Mich., is combining some of kids' favorite things to focus their attention on fire safety — pizza, motor sports and reading.

Pizza Hut has provided more than $1.7 million in cash and in-kind donations to help Rescue 1 for Kids create a new fire prevention tool that emphasizes fire safety and encourages reading. The “911 Checklist” program supplies bookmarks with colorful motor-sports figures printed on one side and a safety checklist on the other. If kids check off each item on the safety checklist — by doing such things as checking their home's smoke detector batteries and practicing an escape plan for a home fire — they can redeem the bookmarks for a 91-cent personal pan pizza (valued at about $4) at their local Pizza Hut.

The program is active only in Michigan for now, but Rescue 1 hopes to expand it nationally. The organization has handed out more than 350,000 bookmarks and 100,000 books to children in west Michigan, according to Matt Renner, who provides graphics and marketing support.

Established by Grand Rapids firefighter Jeff Steere five years ago, Rescue 1 for Kids has handed out literature in 23 states and held 85 events. Steere was named Grand Rapids' Firefighter of the Year in 2001 for the program.

Rescue 1 is offering to share low-cost literature with other fire departments across the nation. “Our goal is to make it a better product to teach children about fire at a lower cost than what fire departments are using,” said Renner. “That's our mission — to create a low-cost program.”

For more information, contact Renner at 616-617-1399 or Steere at 616-617-6895, or visit www.firesafetyforkids.org.