SAFETY TIPS FOR FAMILIES

Click here to download a “Fire Safety” guide.
Click here to download a Babysitter Emergency Contact Sheet.

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FIRE PROCEDURES FOR HOMES WITH CHILDREN

Alarming Statistics:

• Children of all ages set over 100,00 fires annually. Approximately 20,000 of those fires are set in homes.
• Children make up 20% of all fire deaths.
• More than 30% of the fires that kill children are set by children playing with fire.
• At home, children usually play with fire in bedrooms, in closets and under beds. In these “secret” places there are a lot of things that catch fire easily.
• Too often, child firesetters are not given proper guidance and supervision by parents and teachers. Consequently, they repeat their firesetting behavior.

Practice Fire Safety in Your Home:

• Keep matches and lighters in a secured drawer or cabinet.
• Have your children tell you when they find matches and lighters.
• Teach children the nature of fire—FAST, HOT, DARK and DEADLY

Prepare for a Fire:

• If smoke alarms are not already in place, install them outside each sleep area and on each additional level of your home in accordance with local codes.
• Draw a floor plan of your home, mark two fire escape routes for each room.
• Consider escape ladders for sleeping areas on the second or third floors.
• Burglar bars and locks that block outside window entry must be easy to open from the inside.
• Select a safe meeting place for everyone to meet after escaping a fire.
• Conduct a home fire drill at least twice a year with all members of the household.
• Practice alerting other household members of a fire.
• Practice a crawl-low escape from your bedroom, as if you were crawling under a layer of smoke.
• Practice evacuating blindfolded. The amount of smoke generated by a fire will most likely make it impossible to see.
• Teach your family to GET OUT FIRST, then call 911 from another location.
• Practice evacuating during the day and night time.

This grid will help you map out your escape plan: www.nfpa.org/sparky/PDF/escape_plan.pdf

BABYSITTER FIRE SAFETY TIPS

Stay with the Children:

Supervise the children when they are awake and check on them often when they are in bed. Once they’re sound asleep, stay close enough to hear them if they wake up.

If There’s a Fire:

• Your first job is to get yourself and the children outside. THEN STAY OUT!
• Don’t go back in for anything. When everyone’s arrived at a meeting place, take the children with you to call the 911 Operator from a neighbor’s telephone or from a mobile phone, if you have one.
• Give the 911 operator the exact address of the fire and stay on the telephone until they tell you it’s okay to hang up. Then call the parents of the children.
• If you run into smoke while you are escaping, try another way out. If you can’t avoid the smoke, crawl on your hands and knees with your head 1—2 feet above the floor.
• Test doors before you open them—if there’s fire on the other side, it will feel warm around the cracks. Kneel down, then reach up as high as you can and touch the door—at the knob and around the frame—with the back of your hand. If the door is cool, open it with CAUTION. If it is warm, try another escape route.

If You Can’t Get to the Children:

If smoke or flames are blocking the way to the children’s room, leave the building and call 911 as soon as you can from a neighbor’s house or mobile telephone. Tell the 911 operator where the children are trapped.