Household fires
- All houses should be fitted with smoke alarms which should be tested regularly. If the alarms are not hard wired, i.e. if they are battery powered, such checks should be done monthly.
- A plan for evacuation in the case of a household fire is sound practice but young children may not remember these details if such an emergency occurs. Nevertheless a “what do we do if there is a fire” game can make a fun activity as long as children are not unnecessarily frightened by the possibilities of their house catching fire
- Older children can of course be contributors to such a plan which may be developed in a family meeting
- All members of the family (or household) need to know in the case of a fire where they will meet in the house, how to escape from any room and where equipment such as portable ladders will be stored.
- It is important for a family to have a designated meeting place so that young children know where their parents will be in a house. It is best to have a secondary back-up location in case the fire starts where the meeting place has been designated. This provides children with the understanding and the assurance that when they get to that designated meeting place, their parent or parents will be there waiting to help them. A rehearsal is an important aspect of this plan.
- Deaths from household fires, while thankfully rare, are likely to be the result of smoke inhalation so the rhyme “Get down low and go, go, go!” is worth remembering. Children can be taught to crawl if smoke has filled the room. As most adults know smoke tends to drift upwards and the air at the lowest level is the best to breathe. Crawling to the meeting place and crawling out of the house is something that every family should practice and again can be turned into a fun game that even young children will enjoy
- If the family lives in a multi-story building and it is possible for a ladder to be dropped over the edge, this should be practised. The storage of this ladder in a pre-determined space should be known by all members of the family, but only adults would be responsible for retrieving the ladders and setting them up.
- The key as previously mentioned, is to have fire drills. This will increase the likelihood that all the family will get out safely if a household fire does occur.
- Young children should never be left alone in a house.
