What I learned today:
First Visit –
- We reviewed the meeting place from last year and the four requirements for a good meeting place.
- The meeting place is where we want to end up. How do we get there?
- We have to have a plan and we have to practice.
- We made a floor plan of a house and drew escape routes from each room on the plan.
- Each room has to have TWO WAYS OUT. The first way is the one we use most of the time, this is called the PRIMARY ESCAPE ROUTE. This is usually a door.
The second way out is called the SECONDARY ESCAPE ROUTE. This is usually a window. - We learned that if we are in our room when the smoke alarm sounds we should crawl to the door and SNEAK A PEEK—crack it open to check for smoke. If the route is clear we take our primary escape route.
- If it is blocked by heat, smoke, or flame, we close our door and go to the secondary route.
- We signal the fire department by yelling and waving our arms or a blanket. This even works if the window is in the back of the house because a firefighter will always walk all the way around a building that is on fire.
- We learned not to jump out of windows or climb onto porch roofs unless we can’t stay in our room.
- We watched a video called The Great Escape Challenge about two families practicing their plans.
- We learned that we should always check a door for smoke or heat before opening it when the smoke detector is going off.
- We learned that we must never go back inside a burning building. We GET OUT AND STAY OUT!
- Our homework is to draw a floor plan of our house with two ways out of each room. We need to practice our plan with our family.
Watch a Fire Safety Escape Plan Video
Watch how to Plan and Practice Fire Drills at Home
Second Visit –
- We reviewed escape planning and made sure everyone made an escape plan for their home.
- We learned that we can prevent many harmful fires by happening, and learned the most common causes of house fires: Unattended cooking, candles, heating devices and electrical issues.
- Most of these fires can be prevented by making sure an adult is watching them, and turning them off or putting them out when we leave the room.