National Fire Prevention Week started this Sunday, October 7, 2018 and ends Saturday, October 13. National Fire Prevention Week is a great time to create and discuss a fire safety plan for your household.

If you’re unsure what should be in your Fire Safety plan, we’ve gathered some resources about fire safety education, from learning about fire stats in the U.S. to teaching children about fire safety.

Places to find tips and facts about fire safety

• National Fire Prevention Association’s (NFPA) Fire Facts
• NFPA’s Fire Prevention Quiz
• NFPA’s Checklist for Protecting Families from Fire

You can use these resources to form a fire safety plan that will help your family prevent fires and stay safe in case of a fire.

What your Fire Safety Plan should include

• A planned route for exiting your home in case of fire
• Fire safety training for your family such as fire prevention and evacuation
• Who will assist infants or older adults in case of fire
• Ensuring your house is clearly marked to identify location in case of fire
• A designated meeting place in case of home evacuation

Fire prevention and safety tips

Tips that the NFPA recommends for fire prevention and fire safety include:

• Clean your heating devices. The leading factor in home-heating fires from 2009 to 2013 was a failure to clean, and that usually involved chimneys
• Don’t leave cooking devices unattended. Cooking is tied for being the second leading cause of home fire deaths, and unattended cooking is the leading reason for these fires.
• Don’t try to fight a fire. More than 50% of cooking related fire injuries happen when people attempt to fight the fire.

Since three in five home-fire deaths occur in homes without smoke alarms or in homes without working smoke alarms, one of the most important precautions you can take is checking your smoke alarm each year.

National Fire Prevention Week is the perfect time each year to check your smoke alarm batteries and functionality. And if you don’t have one, add a smoke alarm to help prevent death and injury in your home in case of possible emergencies.

Online kid-friendly teaching tools and games

• Sparky the Fire Dog has educational videos, games and activities for kids to learn about fire safety
• U.S. Fire Administration for Kids has recommendations for how to keep children in your home safe from potential hazards
• KidsHealth Fire Safety has tips for parents on how to keep kids safe at home and how talk to kids about fire safety

Fire safety tips for kids

The US Fire Administration and KidsHealth recommend taking these steps to help your children understand what to do in case of fire and how to keep them safe:

• Practice fire evacuation routes at home. There’s a reason kids practice fire drills and many employers have them at work. Practicing your planned escape route helps you exit your home in a real fire more quickly and with less panic.
• Remind kids to get out, not hide. Children tend to hide when they get scared. Practicing your fire escape route at home and reminding them to get out of the house in case of fire will help them stay safer in case of a real fire.
• Don’t play with matches or lighters. If your kids see you playing with lighters and matches, they may try to do the same. However, kids don’t know how to use and extinguish these safely, which could hurt them or cause a house fire.
• Keep kids away from heating devices. From space heaters to ovens and furnaces, these devices could cause kids burn injuries. And if they learn to play with and around these devices, they could accidentally cause a fire.

Keeping your family safe and comfortable is always a major concern for parents and caregivers. Following the guidelines and suggestions from the NFPA, U.S. Fire Administration and other safety and health organizations will help you prepare your family in case of a fire emergency.

In addition to creating a fire safety plan and making sure your kids are safe at home, it’s important to check your home for any fire hazards like frayed wiring, candles in dangerous places, clogged dryer vents and heating concerns.

Fire safety is such a huge concern that we have a whole week dedicated to awareness, but taking these steps can help make your home and family safer!

Originally published 10/6/11. Last updated 10/4/18.

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