A plan of action can save the lives of every member of the family.
That is the message behind this year’s Fire Safety Prevention Week (Oct. 9 to 15) theme: Protect Your Family from Fire.
In a 2009 study released by Ontario’s Chief Coroner, officials concluded home fires are the leading cause of unintentional death for young children.
According to Fire Prevention Canada (FPC), a group promoting fire safety awareness, on average, fire kills eight people each week in Canada, with residential fires accounting for 78% of those fatalities.
Clearly, protecting families from house fires is a message that bears repeating.
“I don’t think families spend enough time planning and practicing their home escape routes,” said Tom Mulvey, public safety officer and District Chief of the Centre Wellington Fire Department.
“It is something we talk about with young children when they come to the fire hall on tours. I ask them how many have worked with their parents to create an escape fire route to get them safely out of their homes and most of them have never heard of the idea. If a fire happens in their home, they have no idea how to get out.”
Mulvey suggested families make time to draw out a map of the home, looking at all the exits, including finding two exits per room, so children understand the best route to use to get outdoors.
Practice makes perfect, and he suggested making it a timed event, so everyone involved appreciates the urgency of getting out and away from the burning home.
FPC reminds parents most home fire fatalities take place between 2 and 4 am, while occupants are asleep, so practicing fire drills at night makes good sense. Teaching children to navigate from their bedroom to the main exit by crawling on hands and knees, with flashlights if possible, allows them to understand that they will be able to breathe better if lower to the ground.
FPC research shows that it takes approximately five minutes for an entire home to be engulfed in flames, a time that has increased since the 1970s because newer homes are built and furnished with more synthetic materials, which not only ignite and burn faster, but also release more toxic gases when burned. Impaired vision and toxic fumes in mere minutes proves there is no time for indecision.
“By the time the fire alarm has sounded off, people have less than one minute, on average, to get out of their homes before the smoke inhalation is too dangerous to get out safely,” Mulvey said, explaining it is the smoke that impedes people’s ability to survive, preventing them from getting to safety.
“You should have your escape timed down to one minute. Remember, it’s the smoke, not just the fire that is deadly.”
According to Safe Kids Canada, a national injury prevention program of The Hospital for Sick Children, an estimated 40 children under the age of 14 die from fires and other burns each year. The majority of these deaths (75%) are due to smoke inhalation.
“The safest thing to do for your children when you tuck them in at bedtime is to shut their doors,” said Mulvey. “It’s actually the safest thing to do, because in the unforeseen event of a fire, it’s the smoke that causes the most harm and it travels so quickly.”
He also cautions parents that not all children are woken by the sound of the smoke alarm. Testing the sound of the alarm at night ensures the children are familiar with the alarm sound and allows parents to know their child’s reaction.
“In your home escape plan make sure you factor in that you may have to go wake up the children,” Mulvey said.
He recommends parents talk to their children about basic fire safety principles, such as checking the door for heat, but cautions that modern doors don’t conduct heat in the same way as they used too.
Still, the old practices, or checking air at the bottom of doors or carefully opening the door, work to determine the heat.
If there is no smoke smell and the air is cool, people should kneel and open the door slowly, turning their face away from the opening. If smoke is present or the door is hot, use another exit.
Teaching children what to do if they cannot get out of their bedroom via their door is also crucial to the family plan, according to FPC.
Mulvey agrees empowering children to understand what they can do will prevent them from feeling helpless.
“Remind children that it is not okay to hide in these situations, nor is it okay for them to assume they need to jump out of windows immediately,” Mulvey said.
FPC suggests teaching children how to open their windows themselves and to wave an article of clothing, or a flashlight, something to attract attention that will help guide firefighters to their aid.
“Whenever you leave a room, or the house during a fire, it is extremely important to shut the door behind you,” he urged.
“It can create a tremendous amount of damage if you don’t do this because the air that goes into the house gives more oxygen and makes the fire hotter.”
Both Mulvey and FPC agree that once outside, a meeting place a safe distance from the home allows everyone to gather and be accounted for.
Of absolute importance, Mulvey insists, is that the family understand nobody should ever re-enter the home. Get to a neighbour’s house or mobile telephone and call 911 for help.
While it is proven that smoke alarms save lives, Mulvey insists people must remember to frequently test their smoke alarms and to change their batteries. It is a simple act that can save lives.
“Some people change them when we change our clocks for the season,” Mulvey explained. “For the price of a battery, why not change them twice a year?”
FPC suggests smoke alarms should be tested monthly and cleaned for dust and debris every six months with a vacuum. Smoke detectors should be replaced every ten years.
There is a high rate of child fire-related deaths where smoke alarms are present in the home but have no functioning batteries or are not connected at all.
The Ontario Fire Marshall reminds citizens it is the law in Ontario to have working smoke alarms on every storey of the home and outside all sleeping areas. Failure to comply with the law can result in a ticket of $235 or a fine of up to $50,000 for individuals.
Mulvey hopes families throughout Wellington County and beyond will heed his advice and take the time to create a safe family escape plan and talk to children about basic fire safety issues.
“People go through their life and think a fire is not going to happen to them,” he said. “But it doesn’t take long to give your house escape plans a trial and check your fire alarm batteries, so that if a fire ever does happen, at least you and your children know what to do.”
For more information regarding Fire Prevention Week or how to talk to your children about fire safety, contact Mulvey at 519-843-1950.
