Fire Safety Week at the Goddard School of Wall

Fire Safety Week

This week at the Goddard School of Wall, the theme is Fire Safety. The children are learning who firemen are, when to call 911, what to do in case of an emergency, how to "stop, drop and roll," and what not to touch. Many accidents can be prevented by teaching children about fire safety at  young age.

Fire prevention week is a great time to emphasize fire safety with staff, children, and families, and an excellent annual reminder of the importance of fire safety education for adults and children. This is a time to check smoke detectors and make an emergency fire safety plan.

Children and Fire

Curiosity is an important part of a child's development. Children learn through their senses and the color, heat, and movement of fire can make it seem fascinating and mysterious. Fires can often be started by a combination of children's curiosity, lack of supervision, and access to matches or lighters.

Young children may associate fire with holidays and celebrations because they have watched parents or other adults light candles, campfires, or grills for special occasions. Children may not be able to see why fire is dangerous because of their lack of experience and limited reasoning ability.

Children frequently repeat actions that they see adults perform and incorporate those actions into their role playing. For example, a three-year-old may not see any difference in her mother lighting candles on a cake and trying to light candles by herself.

Our Advice

Give children under 5 years-old specific instructions of what they should and should not do. With older children,  it's better to also explain why. You will probably need to talk about fire safety more than once, to make sure they have remembered and understood what you have taught them. Here is a list of things you can tell your children:

• to tell a grown-up of they see matches or lighters lying around
• never to play with matches, lighters or lighted candles
• never to play, or leave toys, close to a fire or heater
• not to put things on top of heaters or lights
• not to pull on electric cables or fiddle with electrical appliances or sockets 
• never switch on the stove or put anything on top of it 
• never touch the stove or any saucepans on the stove

It's important to talk through with children what to do if there is a fire. Don't avoid the subject for fear of frightening them. Children need to know how to react, as there may not be an adult around to tell them what to do if a fire happens. Here are the basic instructions to give your children: 

• if they see smoke or flames, they should tell a grown-up right away
• get out of the building as soon as possible 
• never go back into the building for anything
• never hide in a closet or under a bed - get out of the house and call for help right away
• if there is no adult around, find a phone and call 911 - try to give them the address slowly 
• make sure children know their address 

As a cautious parent, you should always prepare your children in case of a fire. An escape plan that is uniformly followed by the entire family should be organized and practiced as a drill until it becomes a well known routine. You should also have working, reliable smoke alarms in your home. 

As fire safety week rolls on here at the Goddard School, we will continue to teach the children about the dangers of fire and the importance of knowing what to do in case of an emergency. We hope this post has given you some ideas of what to talk to your children about at home as far as fire safety and we encourage that you practice these things with your children all year round.