How To Prepare Your Child for a Potential Fire Escape

10/22/2018 (Permalink)

Fires can be both destructive and deadly. If you’re a parent, kid’s safety is a top priority. To help ensure everyone knows how to react in the event of a home fire, it’s important to develop an evacuation plan and educate your child about fire safety. A thorough plan and discussion should include the following elements.

1. Establish Multiple Escape Routes

Under the right conditions, a fire may spread throughout your home. For this reason, it’s essential that you help your child identify every available exit point, including windows.

2. Check Doors

Before opening any doors, instruct your child to feel them for heat. If a door feels hot, she should avoid opening it and proceed to a secondary escape route.

3. Stay Low

Smoke rises and can be a potential detriment to every kid’s safety. To reduce the amount inhaled, your child should stay as low to the ground as possible. You should demonstrate both a forearm and belly crawl to help her understand the safest ways to proceed to the nearest accessible exit.

4. Designate a Meet-up Spot

As you develop your fire escape plan, make sure to designate an outside location away from your home where your family can meet. Instruct your child that once she evacuates, she should not re-enter the home for any reason.

5. Stop, Drop and Roll

If your child’s clothes catch on fire, inform her to stop, drop and roll on the ground until the flames are extinguished.

6. Open Nearby Window If Trapped

If flames block all viable escape routes, instruct your child to close the nearest door and proceed to a window. She should open the window, yell for help and wave an object to alert firefighters of her location.

Because it helps promote kid’s safety, all households in Gardner, KS, should develop a fire evacuation plan and educate their children accordingly. Although there may be little a homeowner can do to minimize fire damage and restoration needs, ensuring everyone knows how to efficiently escape the home may provide some peace of mind.