If your child comes home from school with a mallet next fall, you should be alarmed. Smoke alarmed, that is.

The Pittsburgh Fire Bureau is preparing to build and distribute so-called Wyz Kits, named for Fire Captain Jim Wyzomirski, who designed a made-for-kids fire safety set that includes an instructional video, smoke detector, whistle, flag, flash light, and mallet for breaking windows in an emergency. The detector is supposed to go on the child's bedroom ceiling, and the rest should slide comfortably under the bed.

Last week Capt. Wyzomirski presented a prototype to the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, created by the state to help the city recover financially, and won a commitment of $25,000 in aid. That should be enough to start building Wyz Kits, potentially with some donated implements and labor from Goodwill Industries, he said.

The whole Fire Bureau mourns when a child dies. That loss can be even more tragic if it occurs because the child wasn't able to attract attention, or open a window, in a blaze. And the bureau already teaches safety in schools, in a program called Risk Watch, which will be expanded next year with another $25,000 ICA grant.

But there's no off-the-shelf solution to the problems kids face getting out of a burning home. "There was nothing out there that addresses kids and trying to help them help themselves in a fire," said Capt. Wyzomirski.

So he designed a prototype that he hopes can go national. The implements are strapped to a simple wooden board with big-print instructions. The accompanying video, meant to be watched by the whole family, teaches everyone what to do if they wake up during a fire.

The cost per Wyz Kit is around $15 to $20, he estimated. The bureau hopes to get some assembled and start distributing them in October, probably in schools around East Liberty and Sheraden, which have been plagued by fires.

Fire Chief Darryl Jones said the bureau's expanded safety course for children will include one hour of instruction each month in all Pittsburgh Public and Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese elementary schools. If other private schools want to be included, they should call the bureau, he said.