Fires don't occur often in homes, thankfully, but when they do, everyone must know what to do. There won't be time to check a manual or read a book. The family must know immediately what to do and do it! To make that happen, there must be a fire safety plan in place, and the family must have rehearsed it.
The Fire Safety Plan
The plan itself should provide for two ways out of the house. This isn't too difficult when everyone's on the ground floor, but a second story is a little different. Remember that a fire or smoke may block the only stairway. Buy and install an emergency ladder with metal steps. Secured beneath a window, it can easily be lowered out of that window so that family members can climb to the ground. Once on the ground, children and adults alike should move to a designated meeting point that is safely away from the burning house. This allows parents and fire fighters to determine who is safe and who still needs assistance. It's important to get to the meeting point because we definitely don't want a fire fighter to risk his or her life by entering a burning home when it's not necessary.
Special Fire Safety Precautions
If you or a child are in a room behind a closed door, be sure to touch the door knob quickly before leaving the room. If the knob is hot, there is fire or hot smoke and gases in the hallway. Rather than entering a hall full of fire, plug the crack at the base of the door with a towel or piece of clothing to keep the smoke confined to the hallway. Then, hang a bed sheet or towel out of the window to let the fire department know that you need help.
Long before an emergency ever occurs, smoke detectors should be installed throughout the house. This is especially important on sleeping floors. When a child is lost in a home fire, it is usually because there were no working smoke detectors in the structure and the child slept through the developing fire. In order to depend upon them, fire detectors must be tested monthly and the batteries must be changed every six months. Let kids hear the alarm so they know it and will react to it. Change batteries when daylight savings time makes its changes.
Every home should have at least one fire extinguisher in the kitchen. Provide a second one in the garage. Check each one monthly to ensure it has pressure, and have them serviced each year. This ensures the unit will be ready to perform when you need it. Learn how to use the fire extinguisher and then show everyone else in the family how to use it. While you are desperately trying to put out that nasty grease fire on the stove is no time to learn to use an extinguisher.
Place plenty of flashlights, usually one for each bedroom, and spare batteries throughout the house. If the house begins to fill with smoke or there is a power outage in the middle of the night, each child is able to find their way out. Likewise, each bedroom and the kitchen should have emergency numbers posted, especially 911. Arrange to take your kids to the local fire station so that they can meet a real fire fighter. This will help to reduce the "scary image" created by a fire fighter in full fire fighting gear in a dark, smoke-filled hallway.
Child Fire Safety Exiting Plans
As cold-hearted as it sounds, encourage kids to get out of the house immediately without looking for family pets. To search through a smoke-filled house or apartment to find a dog or a cat can put a child at serious risk. Animals often find their way out, and more than one pet has been saved by a fire fighter.
Teach children to crawl out of a smoke-filled room or hallway. Hot smoke and gases rise to the ceiling, so the available oxygen is near the floor. If a child's clothing catches on fire, as it might in a cooking fire, teach your family to stop, drop and roll. This reduces the oxygen available to the burning clothing and puts out the fire.
Ensure every family member makes it out safely by developing and practicing a home fire safety plan. Provide two exits for every room and make sure kids know how to use them as well as fire extinguishers, emergency telephone numbers and flashlights. Check smoke alarms monthly. Teach everyone to stop, drop and roll in order to put out a clothing fire.
