Show kids what a match can do to a cotton curtain, and it's a fire safety lesson they won't forget.

Firefighters torched curtains in a trailer Wednesday at Central Fire Station in Winona during the department's annual open house. The lesson showed visiting children - and their parents - just how quickly a fire can spread. But the demonstration also showcased a fire-safety feature officials recommend for every house in Winona.

Heat-activated sprinklers doused the demonstration flames in seconds as children and their parents watched.

Similar sprinklers likely would have spared the life of a Winona woman who died on Ed Krall's first day as a fire marshal, said Krall, now Winona's fire chief.

"Most adults, even, don't comprehend how fast the fire spreads," he said.

The Minnesota State Fire Chiefs Association recommended last year that all new buildings - even residential ones - include heat-activated sprinklers. The Legislature has not implemented the recommendation, Krall said, in part because the systems cost a few thousand dollars.

Krall says the sprinklers are worth the money.

"If (people) can spend $10,000 on a countertop, what's $3,000 for your life?" he said.

While the parents at the open house were interested to learn about the safety features, the children were there for the trucks.

One boy on his dad's shoulders could just barely see over the window into the driver's seat. Other kids climbed in and out of the vehicles. A firefighter showed off hoses and other equipment to the bright-eyed kids. And a few firefighters-to-be tried their hands at the wheel, bright red plastic helmets on their heads.

The open house is meant to wow the kids, but in the end, the firefighters hoped they'd leave having learned something about fire safety.

"We're here to sell sprinkler systems," said Jim Westby, a former fire chief who now tours with the sprinkler demonstration trailer selling the systems. "But our biggest concern is life and safety. That's why we're here."