Olympia – As the new school year starts, the State Fire Marshal’s Office (SFMO) urges educators and parents to teach children about fire safety and their responsibilities during a fire. It is vital for kids to recognize the hazards of fire and know how to react in an emergency. Last year in Washington State, nearly 8% of fire-related deaths involved children under age 10.
The SFMO suggests teaching children the following fire safety tips:
- Teach children not to play with items that can cause fires such as matches, lighters, candles, and cooking equipment.
- Establish a three-foot kid-free zone where fire and safety risks are present in the home such as in the kitchen, near a fireplace, and around space heaters.
- Let them hear the sound a smoke alarm makes and teach them to leave the building quickly and safely when they hear it.
- Discuss when to call 911 and what information to provide.
- Practice a fire escape plan twice a year with at least two exit pathways.
- Teach children that if there is a fire, they should go outside to the designated family meeting spot and stay outside.
- Let them know that hiding during a fire is not safe.
- Teach children that if there is smoke, they need to get low and crawl to the nearest exit.
- For children in the first grade and beyond, demonstrate to how to stop, drop, and roll and the importance of doing so if their clothes catch on fire.
- Inform children what to do during a fire drill at school, and to follow their teachers’ instructions.
For more information, please contact the State Fire Marshal’s Office at (360) 596-3929.