Lee’s Summit mom Mia Prier and her husband have taught their three children where the family’s meeting place is in their yard in the event of a fire. The children know to go immediately to that spot without taking time to grab a pet or toy, and they know to stay in that spot until their parents or a firefighter instructs otherwise.
Given Prier’s husband is a firefighter, it makes sense fire safety is top-of-mind in their home. For everyone else, October is a good time to review fire safety basics, because Fire Prevention Week is this month.
First, having two ways out of every room is extremely important, says Jim Eden, assistant fire chief with the Lee’s Summit Fire Department. He says to make sure those exits are accessible to everyone. Additionally, make sure all locks and windows are openable from the inside.
If you can’t make it out of a bedroom because the door is hot, be sure to hang something noticeable out the window to indicate you are still in the room. Escape ladders are available to purchase if necessary. However, Eden says those are to be used only in the event of an actual emergency and not during a drill, as it’s easy to get injured when using them.
In addition to having an agreed-upon meeting location outside the home, Prier says letting children know what a firefighter is going to look like in the event of an emergency is important.
“Let children know firefighters might look scary in their bunker gear, but they are not scary,” she says. “They are there to help.”
To accomplish this, seek out opportunities for children to meet firefighters and see them in their bunker gear. This way, the kids will not be frightened by the sight of firefighters but will recognize them as people coming to bring them to safety.
Ultimately, Eden says to never go back inside a home that is burning. He understands how difficult this is as a parent, but by doing so you put yourself at risk, and a child might already have made his way out another exit.
Smoke alarms should be fewer than 10 years old, Eden says. In new homes, according to Eden, all smoke alarms are wired into the home’s electric system, have battery backup and are interconnected. There needs to be an alarm on every level of the home, in every hallway and in every sleeping room. The detectors must be cleaned out and batteries changed once a year. Also make sure detectors have been tested by a reputable third party, such as Underwriters Laboratories.
Parents can begin talking to young children about fire by saying it can be a very useful tool under the right circumstances but extremely dangerous in other circumstances, Eden advises. You can show a young child smoke from a candle to begin a discussion about smoke and its dangers. Additionally, Eden suggests making a game with the kids of how to get out of a room and even drawing out a fire safety plan.
In an actual emergency, people have little time. Eden says those rescued from fires almost always say they had no idea how quickly things changed during the fire and how quickly they weren’t able to find their way out.
How much to do you know about fire? Test your knowledge.
- True/False It’s best to sleep with a bedroom door open. False. While bedroom doors are often flimsy, they can act as a barrier and provide a few critical moments of protection in the event of an emergency.
- True/False Heat can be more dangerous than flames. True. Room temperature in a fire can be 100 degrees at floor level and 600 degrees at eye level. That is hot enough to scorch one’s lungs and melt clothes to skin.
- True/False Smoke and toxic gas kill more people than flames. True. Fire uses up oxygen and produces smoke and deadly gases. Breathing small amounts of such gases can cause someone to fall into a deep sleep before the flames reach them.
- True/False. Fire is bright. False. While fire starts bright, it quickly produces black smoke and then complete darkness.
Source: USFA.FEMA.gov
Allison Gibeson is a freelance writer from Lee’s Summit.