Teaching Fire Safety in a Child-Friendly Way | SERVPRO® of Sumter

6/14/2023 (Permalink)

SERVPRO of Sumter is here for you and your family if you experience a fire in your home or business.

Teaching fire safety to everyone in your home is vital to your family’s safety during an emergency. While it can seem overwhelming thinking about how to explain a house fire to a small child, there are things you can do to make this process a little less scary for everyone involved.

Our SERVPRO of Sumter team explains how to start teaching the fire safety basics for every member of your family below, so read on to learn more and get some great ideas.

How to Explain Fire

It can be hard to explain the concept of fire to a small child. While little ones can see the flame and understand what it is, the idea of cause and effect is bit harder to master. Start by walking around to each space in your home that produces fire, like your bonfire pit, stove or even the candles around your house. Discuss how a fire starts in each one and what would happen if the fire spread.

This is also an important time to introduce the idea of match and lighter safety. A single match or lighter in the hands of a curious child can lead to an incredibly dangerous and potentially devastating situation.

Ensure that your child knows that these items are never to be played with and should always be given to a responsible adult.

Trusting Authority

Many kids want to grow up to become firefighters and police officers, but many of these same children often become shy around authority figures. When firefighters or police officers are in uniform, they are usually equipped with heavy equipment and sometimes even masks that shield their face from view. That can be scary for kids!

Expose your kids to pictures, books and videos about firefighters, and take them down to our local fire station during open house days so they can meet a firefighter in real life. This connection can help them react quicker in a real house fire when a firefighter is there trying to help them escape from their rooms.

Forming Your Escape Plan

Does your family have an emergency exit plan? If you don’t, now is the time to create one. Have your children lead the way for this and challenge them to find all exits for each room in your home, and have a contest to see who can get out of the house the fastest. Write down all of this information into a diagram together when you are done.

Don’t let your children overlook the windows in your home, either. While it is our responsibility to keep our little ones safe and away from high level windows, they can be crucial in a true emergency situation. Teach your children how to open your windows, but ensure that they understand that they are only to be used in a serious fire emergency.

Finally, designate some place outside as your meeting location and then put it all together into one final practice. Do this a couple of times a year, and act it out as a family so everyone knows their role and what to do.

Fires can cause widespread damage. Call us for a thorough and efficient restoration.