When a fire starts in a wooden home, the inhabitants often have no more than minutes to escape. Confusion about what to do wastes those valuable minutes. Early warnings given by smoke alarms are very important. Fire alarms dramatically increase the survival rate of all of the family. Two-thirds of home fires that kill children younger than 5 occur in homes without a working smoke alarm.
Did you change your battery when daylight saving time changed?
Parents should install an alarm on each level of the home and outside bedrooms or other sleeping areas. Remember to test alarms monthly and change batteries at least once a year — preferably twice, at biannual time changes.
If an infant sleeps in a separate room, place an alarm in the room. Keep the door closed to protect against the smoke of a hallway fire. Use a baby monitor to hear it if the alarm sounds.
Familiarize older children with the sound of the smoke alarm, and instruct them to leave the dwelling and go to a predetermined meeting place outside the home and not return.
Matches, lighters and other heat sources are the leading causes of children’s deaths. Children have a natural curiosity about fire, and learning how to strike a match or use a lighter is not much different from tying shoe laces or hopping on one foot. Store matches and lighters out of children’s sight and reach. Child-resistant lighters are not childproof. Don’t leave candles burning or within reach of a child.
If a child is curious about fire or has been playing with fire, calmly and firmly explain matches and lighters are tools for only adults to use. Ask children to tell you when they find a lighter or match and to bring it to you. Reward them with praise. Of course, adults should never play with matches in front of children.
Inspect your house to see that it is fire safe. Don’t overload electric circuits or outlets. Have the heating systems checked annually. Smokers should use deep ashtrays and soak ashes in water.
In the same way we prepare for hurricanes, families need to prepare a detailed escape plan in case of fire in different areas of the house. Draw a diagram of your house, including windows and doors, and plan two routes of escape out of each room. Teach children how to feel doors with the back of the hand to see if they are hot and never to open a hot door.
Make a plan for the abilities of each member of the family — especially those who may be able to escape on their own. Teach children how to crawl under the smoke to reduce smoke inhalation, and how to drop and roll if their clothes catch on fire.
Practice the plan with members of the family. Children as young as 3 can follow an escape plan if they have practiced it often. Teach your children not to hide when they encounter fire — not even if they have started it. Firefighters in protective gear can look frightening. Take them to a fire station to see and to meet firemen and learn they are friends and come to help.
Sally Robinson is a clinical professor of pediatrics at UTMB Children’s Hospital, and Keith Bly is an assistant professor of pediatrics in the UTMB Children’s Emergency Room. This column isn’t intended to replace the advice of a physician.
