Every member of your household should be familiar with your fire escape plan and children are no exception!
Involve your children in creating your family’s Safe Escape Plan and your Safe Meeting Place. Make sure children know both ways out of every room, and what to do if they are trapped inside their room. Teach your children what the smoke alarm sounds like and what they need to do when they hear the alarm sound. Teach them that fires and firefighters can be scary, but to never hide during an emergency. Remind them that once they are out of the house and at the family’s Safe Meeting Place, to never go back inside of a burning building for any belonging or even pets.
Practice your Fire Escape Plan twice a year. Make any adjustments based on your children’s age, location in the house or special needs. Practice your plan at different times of the year and during different weather conditions. In preparing for fires at night, parents must remember that some children may sleep through smoke alarms. Hold a fire drill at night and activate the fire drill while your children are sleeping in order to gauge whether the alarm is sufficient to wake them. If your children have a difficult time waking up once the alarm sounds, have another member of the household be responsible for waking them.