What to Teach Your Kids About Fire Safety | SERVPRO® of Downtown Charleston

5/16/2022 (Permalink)

If you have been impacted by a fire event, contact SERVPRO® of Downtown Charleston.

When a fire strikes, you may have only around two minutes to safely escape from your home. That’s scary for an adult to consider, but even more alarming when you consider your kids.

Because children aren’t fully developed, physically or emotionally, it can be even more challenging for them to react properly when a fire sparks. That’s why it is important for your entire family to be informed about fire safety basics and what to do when a fire occurs.

But what do your kids need to know? Read on as our SERVPRO of Downtown Charleston team gives you a guide.

Teaching Kids Fire Safety Basics
As with anything, the amount of information you share with your kids about fires will depend on their specific ages and maturity level. But here are some basics to share with any kid, tapered to an age-appropriate message:

- Don’t play with fire. This may well be the most important message you should share with your kids. Each year, an average of 300 Americans are killed and $280 million in property is destroyed as a result of children playing with fire. Keep all matches and lighters out of your kids’ reach—and teach them to never play with or even make contact with fire.

- Follow the fire escape plan. As a family, create a plan for escaping your house in the case of a fire. This plan should include two ways to get out of any room in the home. Practice the plan repeatedly with your entire family. Depending on the age of your kids, part of the plan may be that an adult needs to go to the child and help him or her escape. Regardless, every person should know how to get out, and it should be practiced enough that it becomes familiar.

- Know what the alarm sound means. Would you recognize the sound of an alarm alerting you to a fire in the home? It’s important that you are able to do so easily, and that your children can also discern between the smoke alarm and other alarms and noises in the house. When the smoke alarm goes off, it’s important to leave the home until it’s determined that the home is safe and a fire isn’t present.

- Don’t come back inside. This tip is important enough to stand on its own. Your kids need to know how to escape the home and when to do so, but they also need to know to never come back inside until they’re told to do so by an adult.

- Firefighters are your friends. While kids might idealize firefighters and other fire responders, when they encounter firefighters in an emergency situation, like a fire, it’s not uncommon for them to be scared. After all, they’re in full gear and often carrying heavy equipment. Teach your children that firefighters are there to help and to follow their instructions carefully.

If a fire strikes, your next move matters. You can get in touch] with SERVPRO professionals 24 hours a day, seven days a week to start the restoration process. We’ll help get your home back to looking “Like it never even happened.”