A firehouse full of cross-curriculum activities and fire-related Web
sites for Fire Prevention Week.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Children playing with matches appears
to have been the cause of a fire that killed a 6-year-old boy in the home
he shared with his mother and five siblings, authorities said Sunday.
How many times have you read or heard a news story like that one?
Each year, children set more than 100,000 fires, according to the United
States Fire Administration (USFA). And children make up nearly a quarter
of all fire-related deaths. About 40 percent of fires that kill children
under 5 years old are set by children playing with fire.
Fire Prevention Week is a great time to review some basic
fire safety facts with students across the grades, to check out some
terrific fire safety Web sites, and to engage
students in fire safety activities that get
them talking and learning about the dangers of fire.
But, remember, fire safety is a year-round discussion! This
year's Fire Prevention Week kit includes information about winter fire
safety, holiday fire safety, spring storm fire safety, safety around fireworks,
and more.
Each year, more than 4,500 Americans die and more than 30,000 are injured
in fires. Many of those deaths and injuries could have been prevented
if people had a better understanding of fire, USFA officials say. USFA's
Fact
Sheet on the Nature of Fire includes lots of valuable information,
including:
- Fire is fast! In less than 30 seconds a small flame can get
completely out of control and turn into a major fire. It takes only
minutes for thick black smoke to fill a house.
- Fire is hot! A fire's heat alone can kill. Room temperatures
in a fire can be 100 degrees at floor level and rise to 600 degrees
at eye level. Inhaling this super hot air will scorch your lungs.
- Fire is dark! Fire starts bright, but quickly produces smoke
and complete darkness. If you wake up to a fire, you may be blinded,
disoriented, and unable to find your way around the home you've lived
in for years.
- Fire is deadly! Smoke and toxic gases kill more people than
flames do. Fire uses up the oxygen you need and produces smoke and poisonous
gases that kill.
In the event of a fire, remember that
- Time is the biggest enemy and every second counts! Escape first!
- Develop a home fire escape plan and practice it frequently.
- In your fire escape plan, designate a meeting place outside.
- Make sure everyone in your family knows two ways to escape from every
room.
- Practice feeling your way out with your eyes closed.
- Never stand up in a fire, always crawl low under the smoke and try
to keep your mouth covered.
- Never return to a burning building for any reason; it may cost
you your life.
- Finally, having a working smoke detector dramatically increases your
chances of surviving a fire.
Listening. Read aloud the brief story The
Cow That Destroyed Chicago (or "Why We Celebrate National Fire Prevention
Week"). When you've finished reading the story, ask the questions below
to test students' listening comprehension. (Note: For younger listeners,
you might read the story in two parts.)
- In which city did this story take place? (Chicago)
- In which month of the year did the Great Chicago Fire happen? (October)
- What was the O'Leary's house made of? (wood)
- When Mrs. O'Leary went out to the barn, what did she carry with her?
( a lantern)
- How do many people think the fire started? (They think Mrs. O'Leary's
cow kicked over the lantern.)
- Why did the fire spread so quickly? (Everything was very dry because
it hadn't rained much.)
- How long did it take to stop the fire? (more than 24 hours; from about
9:00 p.m. Sunday until almost midnight Monday)
- How much of the city of Chicago was destroyed by fire? (more than
2,000 acres, or about 3-1/2 square miles)
- What finally happened to help firefighters get the fire under control?
(It started to rain.)
- Why is Fire Prevention Week held in October? (to remember one of the
most destructive fires of all time)
Community service. Older students can take responsibility for
teaching younger students about fire safety. (Older elementary students
might target younger students in the school; middle and high school students
might target elementary students.) All students benefit! The students
who create the materials learn by doing and the younger students are exposed
to information that might save their lives. And younger students see the
older kids as role models for community involvement. Possible projects:
Among the projects older students might create are fire safety newsletters
featuring fun puzzles, comic strips, coloring pages, poems and other things
for kids to do or to read; fact sheets for kids to take home to their
parents; or a how-to sheet for creating a home escape plan. Students might
even create a fire safety Web page for their community. Click here
for additional project ideas from a middle-school teacher in Michigan.
The possibilities are endless!
Fire safety quiz. Take the Fire
Safety Quiz, prepared by the Bushnell's Basin Fire Association (Perinton,
NY). All ages will have fun with -- and learn from -- the quiz. Students
in third or fourth grade and above should be able to take the quiz independently.
For younger students, the quiz makes a fun class activity using the computer.
See Smokey the Bear's
Web site for additional activities, including a forest fire prevention
quiz, a campfire word unscramble, and more fun games and activities.
Survey/graphing. Invite each student to count how many smoke
detectors his/her family has in their home. Create a simple bar graph
showing how many families have one, two, three, four, or five or more
smoke detectors. Talk about where each smoke detector is located in the
home and why the family chose to put a smoke detector there.
Coloring. For young children, print out the Fire
Prevention Week Coloring Pages and duplicate.
Graph and chart reading. Use the Fire Facts sheet from your Fire
Prevention Week kit (see Resources) or click here
for a copy that can be printed out and duplicated for use as a learning
center activity. Use the following questions to check students' comprehension
of the four graphs/charts on the fact sheet. (Answers are shown in parentheses.)
- How many fires in the home are caused each year by cooking? (101,000)
- How often does a fire department somewhere in the United States respond
of a fire? (every 16 seconds)
- Who is more at risk of dying in a home fire -- young children ages
0-5 or adults age 65 and older? (young children)
- What is the leading cause of home fire deaths? (smoking)
- How many people died in home fire deaths in the United States in 1995?
(3,640)
- In 1977, what percent of homes had smoke detectors in them? (22 percent)
- In 1995, what percent of homes had smoke detectors in them? (93 percent)
Think About It!
- How many more home fire deaths happened in 1977 than happened in 1995?
(2,225)
- Why has the number of home fires decreased from almost 6,000 in 1977
to less than 4,000 in 1995? (Accept reasoned responses, e.g., because
the number of smoke detectors in homes has increased or because people
know more about fire safety today than they did years ago.)
- Fire departments in the United States respond to about four fires
every minute. Use that information to figure out the answers to these
questions: How many fires do U.S. fire fighters respond to every hour?
(about 240) Every day? (about 5,760) Every month? (about 172,800) Every
year? (about 2,102,400)
Art. Hold a school-wide fire safety poster contest. Winning posters
at each grade level might be displayed in the public library or in the
windows of local grocery stores.
Writing. Invite a representative of the fire department to come
into class to talk with your students. (Students might prepare questions
for the firefighter in advance -- questions about fire safety and about
fire fighting as a career.) Then students can use the information they
gather to write a "news story" about the firefighter's visit.
Family involvement. Hold a family night in which a firefighter
speaks to families about fire safety. The firefighter can lead families
as they create fire escape plans for their homes. Informational packets that include fire-safety tips for parents and fun
fire-safety activities for kids can be handed out. Students of all ages, but especially younger students,
might want to share copies of their plans. Activity and informational resources might include Home Fire Escape Plan or Basic Fire Escape Planning.
Safety/art. Talk about fire safety hazards in the home. Make
a list of hazards. Then invite students to draw a cutaway picture of a
home that shows a living room, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a bedroom. The
illustration should include at least ten fire hazards for others to identify.
Hazards might include a T-shirt tossed over a lamp; a lit candle near
a window; a hair dryer teetering on the edge of a sink full of water;
a towel close to a space heater; an adult smoking as s/he lays on the
couch; a frying pan on the stove with the handle pointing outward (a small
child nearby); newspapers close to the fireplace; too many electrical
cords plugged into one outlet; a smoke detector hanging loosely from the
ceiling; a lit cigarette in an unattended ashtray; and a lighter left
on a table -- to name just a few! Once complete, students should exchange
illustrations and list the fire hazards in the picture they receive.
Crack the Code. Assign a different number from 1-26 to each letter
of the alphabet. (For 2nd and 3rd graders A might
be 1, B might be 2, etc. For older students, the code can be mixed up
or students might create their own codes.) Then use the assigned code
to write out some fire safety messages in number form. For example, using
the simple A=1 code, the coded message 14-5-22-5-18 16-12-1-25 23-9-20-8
13-1-20-3-8-5-19 1-14-4 12-9-6-8-20-5-18-19 would translate to NEVER PLAY
WITH MATCHES AND LIGHTERS. Other codes for students to crack would translate
to fire safety messages such as FIRE IS FAST!, TEST SMOKE DETECTORS ONCE
A MONTH, and PRACTICE YOUR FAMILY ESCAPE PLAN.
Fire Prevention Week for Teachers
Everything you need to teach your students important information about fire safety.
Curious
Kids Set Fires
A fact sheet from the United States Fire Administration
(USFA).
Working
Together for Home Fire Safety
A nice resource for parents, teachers,
and older students from USFA.
Home
Fire Escape Plan
A home escape plan must be created and practiced
so that each person knows exactly what to do.
A
Fire Safety Web Site for Middle School Students
This Web site, for
students grades 5-8, encourages students to "get informed and inform
others." Site includes links to other sites and a list of projects for
middle school students.
Smokey the Bear
Smokey's Web site includes fun activities for kids, Smokey's rules,
pen pals, and links to other resources.
Kids' Fire Safety Tips
A simple site for the youngest kids has large, fun illustrations with
tips from Buzzy the Smoke Detector, Reddy the Fire Extinguisher, Squirt
the Water Drop and other fire safety friends.
The
Firehouse Museum
A collection of photographs and fire fighting equipment
and memorabilia provides the opportunity to see "what our grandfathers
and great grandfathers had to use when it came to fighting fires."
Smoke
Detectives
Information about a complete teaching package from State
Farm Insurance for use with K-6 students.
Staying Alive
This nonprofit organization offers age-appropriate curriculum targeted at K-8 students. The goal of these materials is to raise awareness about fire safety, with a special focus on escape plans. Interactive games included.
Article by Gary Hopkins
Education World® Editor-in-Chief
Copyright © 2007 Education World
Originally published 10/06/1997
Links last updated 09/12/2007
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