Fire Prevention: Fourth Grade

Teacher’s Instructions:

Concept:

Explain what exits are (windows and doors).
What to do when the smoke detector goes off (wake up parents/caregiver and/or brother(s) and sister(s) and get out .
Review the following concept and explain in an age-appropriate manner, as appropriate.
Afterwards, click the video below.
After video, go to Escape Plan to reinforce concepts.

Video: Home Fire Evacuation

Short Version

Alarms: Smoke detectors are needed on each level of your home and especially outside of sleeping areas. They must work. Place them on the ceiling a minimum of 4 to 6 inches from the wall. Too many times the Fire Department has responded to a house without a working smoke detector.

Plan: All household members need to know how to get out independently. Some fire drills should be conducted during sleeping hours and can help to determine family members that have a hard time or are slow to wake up. Use a spare smoke detector by holding down the test button to simulate a real fire. A flashlight by your bedside may be helpful, as fire is dark. Determine a meeting place such as a neighbor’s front door or a tree in the front yard (away from the house). You can then determine any missing people and direct firemen.

Escape: When the alarm sounds, wake up household members and get out and stay out! Do not waste time getting valuables. If you see fire or heavy smoke or if the doorknob is hot, use a different way to get out. If you must turn around and use a bedroom window, use the escape ladder (climb down facing the ladder) or go out feet first facing the house, hang and drop. If you must go through smoke, stay low by crawling under the smoke. That’s where the cool air is. The difference may save your life. Go to the meeting place and do not go back inside for any reason. Call from the neighbor’s house or meeting place, not inside the burning building. Always call 911, even for the smallest fire that you thought you put completely out. The fire department can check behind the wall electronically for heat (not an axe) for any additional or extension of the fire.

Escape Plan/Home Fire Drills:

Make A Plan and do Fire Drills: Just Like in School!

Fire is dark, hot, and moves quickly, so you must have an escape plan. You have less than three or four minutes to get out before the smoke, temperatures, and carbon monoxide become unbearable. If you need assistance or have a family member with special needs (wheelchair, etc.), contact the Fire Dept. for a special plan.

As said before, know two ways out:

Know your Exits (Windows and Doors).
Practice opening windows.
Screens (in a real fire) just push out.

Part of the drill should include instructions:

Instruct family members: if there is smoke, stay low and go.
Identify a meeting place for family members to assemble at outside, such as a neighbor’s front door or a tree in the front yard (away from the house). You can then determine any missing people and direct firemen accordingly.
Instruct family members to NEVER go back inside once outside!
Call 9-1-1 from outside the house or a neighbor’s house, NEVER from inside the house!

Escape: When the alarm goes off, GET OUT! (Young Kids: don’t hide from the Fire!)

Escape: When the alarm sounds, wake up the household members, get out, and stay out!

Time: You don’t have time!

Just Enough Time to wake up the family and Get Out!
- Pets get out by themselves, as they are low to the ground.
- No time for toys, valuables, or purses.
Fire goes from 100 degrees to 400 – 1000 in the first three or four minutes of a fire.
Do not waste time getting valuables. If you see fire or heavy smoke, or if the doorknob is hot, keep the door shut and use a different way to get out.
If you must turn around and use a bedroom window, use the escape ladder (climb down facing the ladder) or go out feet first facing the house, hang and drop.
If you must go through smoke, stay low by crawling under the smoke. That’s where the cool air is. The difference may save your life!
Close doors behind you to stop the spread of Fire.

Stay low and go: That’s where the cool air is, near the floor. That’s also why pets get out and survive.

Seaton Hall Dorm Fire Example:
Two college roommates escaped the Seaton Hall Dorm Fire.
One ran and the other remembered her Fire Prevention training and crawled.
The first went to St. Barnabus with burns to their throat and lungs.
The one who crawled was treated and released the same day.

Try getting out the usual way. If there is heavy smoke or fire, or if the doorknob is hot, keep the door shut and again, find another exit.
If you can’t get out of bedroom, keep the door shut and go to a window. Open the window (unless fire is below window) and wait for fire fighters.
If you must get out through a window (if smoke is unbearable/last resort) but you don’t have a ladder:
- Most home 2nd floor windows are less than a 16 foot drop.
- Teach family members how to hang like on a jungle gym facing the building, dropping feet first, never jumping head-first.
Once outside, go to the meeting place and NEVER go back inside.
Call 9-1-1 from outside building or a neighbor’s house, never from inside the house.
Determine if anyone is missing and direct Fire Dept.

Note: Firefighters sometimes risk their lives searching for people who are already out of the building.

Monroe House Fire
Explain that two kids escaped a house fire in Monroe.
A space heater caught a vacuum cleaner on fire.
A smoke detector alarm went off.
The teenage boy and girl tried to go downstairs and saw smoke and fire.
Just as they were taught, they opened a window (no ladder), pushed out the screen, hung out the window, and dropped. Both kids were okay (aside from the girl having a minor sprained ankle). The house was totally destroyed.
They survived because they did everything right and didn’t lose their cool.