A study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of two procedures (1) in training children to perform sequences of emergency fire responses and (2) in facilitating long-term maintenance of correct responses. Subjects, 47 black third-grade children, were divided into external instruction, self-instruction, and control groups. In the self-instruction condition, children were trained to verbalize, monitor, evaluate, and reinforce themselves at different phases of responding; such self-instruction was omitted from the external instruction condition to establish a more passive involvement. All three groups were pretested and posttested. Children in training received additional assessments at 2 and 4 weeks and at 2, 3, 4, and 8 months following training. Generalization to an untrained situation and transfer of training to a second in-school setting and to a home setting were tested on a noncomprehensive basis. Results indicated that both training methods resulted in high levels of skill acquisition, a slight decline in response maintenance over the subsequent 4 months, and a substantial drop in maintenance over the second 4 months. Scores of subjects receiving external instruction declined more during the second 4 months than had both groups' scores during the first 4 months; they also declined more during the second 4 months than those of subjects receiving self-instruction. A high degree of generalization to an untrained response, a high degree of transfer to the second in-school setting, and moderate generalization to the home setting were found for both instruction groups. (Results are discussed with reference to factors potentially contributing to response maintenance.) (RH)