DURHAM – Durham Elementary School is observing School Safety Week this week. The children are participating in a program about fire safety and grades kindergarten through fifth are visiting the fire station.

All students are participating in fire drills during the week. The bus drivers will conduct their annual bus evacuations on Thursday morning, Oct. 12. The practice evacuation will take place when the children arrive at school.

Wednesday morning, Oct. 11, the entire staff and students will participate in a mock exercise. The school will be evacuated after being told a truck tipped over on Route 9, resulting in the need to move students away from the area. At that time students and staff will be asked to leave the building and proceed to the fire station.

Officials will practice procedures for emergency situations. Some fourth- through eighth-grade students will board buses from the fire station as they practice how a bus dismissal might occur from a site other than the school.

Staff has been planning the practice since last spring with the assistance of the fire department, BoMar Transportation and the Safety Committee. The Androscoggin Sheriff’s Department will also assist.