It’s midnight and the clowns are sleeping.

Suddenly the smoke alarm goes off and, after a moment of sheer bump-into-each-other panic, the clowns know to crawl below the smoke, check an inside door and escape through a window.

Meanwhile, as scores of grade-schoolers cheer encouragement, a Muskogee firefighter goes into the burning home to rescue Green Bean, who is found cowering in his bed.

Another “fire,” another lesson in fire safety from the Muskogee Firefighter Clown Society. This elite squad of volunteers don rainbow-colored Afro wigs, big red noses and droopy drawers to teach school children about fire safety. On Tuesday, the group did 30-minute presentations at Muskogee Civic Center to kids from Ben Franklin Science Academy, Sadler Arts Academy, Muskogee Early Childhood Center and other schools.

“Fire safety is a big concern for us,” said Robert Adair of the Muskogee Fire Department’s HazMat Unit. “We do this on our own time because we don’t want to lose anybody to a fire.”

Firefighter Scott Crow, who plays Smoky, said he and his fellow clowns buy and put together their costumes. The volunteers get help from the International Association of Fire Fighters Local No. 57.

While demonstrating the value of “Stop, Drop, and Roll” and dialing the emergency 911 number, the clowns asked the youngsters plenty of questions.

Some of them were pretty obvious.

“Should you ever touch a stove when it’s on?” a blue-haired clown asked.

To which all the kids yelled back, “No-o-o-o!”

Ben Franklin Science Academy first-grade teacher Jennifer Morphis said she seeks to reinforce such lessons with her students.

“Kindergarten and first grade have a fire safety unit,” she said. “I’ve heard several of my kids say they didn’t have a meeting place to go when there is a house fire. We’re sending a note out to parents to tell them what the kids learned and telling them to develop a family plan.”

First-grader Davin Wilson learned one lesson: “Don’t run or you’ll catch on fire.”

Classmate Stephen Hulcher learned another: “If you drop matches your house will catch on fire.”

Crow said the firefighter clowns offer these lessons to kids in pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade.