According to the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA):

Every day Americans experience the tragedy of fire. Each year more than 3,400 Americans die in fires and approximately 17,500 are injured. One of the major leading causes of residential building fire deaths and injuries for children under age 10 is “playing with a heat source” which includes lighters and matches. Children under age 10 account for 93 percent of deaths and 38 percent of injuries where the cause of the residential building fire was due to “playing with a heat source”.

The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) encourages parents to teach children at an early age about the dangers of fireplay in an effort to prevent child injuries, fire deaths and firesetting behavior in the future. (source)

If you are a parent or you care for babies and small children, it is critical that you pay special attention to fire safety. “Children under age 5 are twice as likely to die in a fire than the rest of us. In fact, toddlers age 3 to 4 actually cause a large number of home fires by playing with lighters and matches.” (source)

We’ve put together this list of 10 good online resources to help you teach your kids about fire safety:

USFA for Kids (U.S. Fire Adminstration) – this website has the following resources to help parents, caregivers, and teachers:

• • Discussion Points about controlling kids’ access to fire, fire safety tips for the home, warning signs to detect if children have been playing with fire, and ideas to control curiosity (curious kids under the age of five will often set fires if not properly educated).
  • Lesson Plans and Graphics to teach kids about escape planning, home fire safety and smoke alarms

USFA Kids – The USFA website to teach kids with interactive tools which include:

• • Lessons on home fire safety, smoke alarms, and escaping from fire
  • A quiz at to test the fire safety knowledge. At the end of the quiz, the official Junior Fire Marshal Certificate can be downloaded.
  • Fun and games including crossword puzzles, word searches, Hazard House, and a card matching game

Sparky the Fire Dog – this website by the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) includes:

• • Games including Sparky’s Match Game, Crack the Code, Safe! With Sparky, The Great Escape Fire Drill Challenge, Tales from the Great Escape, etc.
  • Downloadable .pdf activities such as Sparky’s Home Safety Checklist, Escape Plan Grid, etc.
  • Interactive learning tool about Fire Trucks, including the Fire Truck Arcade with more games
  • Cartoons

The Burn Institute’s Fire Safe Kid – website includes:

• • The Kids Zone games, videos and quizzes including Click & Color, Hot or Not, Dress the Firefighter, and a fire safety quiz.
  • Families activities and tips section
  • Teachers tools, curriculum guides and group activities to help bring fire safety to schools.

Safe Kids Worldwide Fire Safety Section – This resource is a good one for parents and grandparents. Similar to some of the already mentioned resources, this website discusses fire dangers, statistics, tips, and activities. However there are some unique elements of this website including:

• • Tips and videos specifically applying fire safety to families with children who are immobile (in a wheelchair), those who are visually or hearing impaired, have cognitive impairments, etc.
  • Fire safety tips for families based on age groups of the kids (0-12 months old, 1-4 years old, 5-9 years old, 10-14 years old, and 15-19 years old).
  • This is also a great website for non-fire related safety tips for kids.

Rescue 1 Fire Safety for Kids – This is another website with areas for kids with activities, games, and videos, as well as areas for parents and teachers.

2 Free App Games for iPhones and Androids:

There are many good apps for iPhones and Androids about fire safety but we thought these two free games were worth pointing out. Whether you’re at home, in the car, or elsewhere, you will usually have your phone with you. If you have an iPhone, iPad or Android, you might want to consider these 2 games to keep you kids occupied and teach them fire safety at the same time:

LEGO City Fire Hose Frenzy!

Description from the app – “There’s a fire in LEGO City! Help the fireman and his trusty firedog put out the fires across LEGO City by climbing the fire truck ladder and using the fire hose. Use the fire hose to put out all the fires in every level. Some fires will be harder to reach than others!” There are 20 levels that increase in difficulty.

For iPhones & iPads:

For Androids:

Ralph the Fire Car Free app (good for ages 2-6)

Description from the app – “Meet Fire Truck Ralph — a new interactive friend for your child who can provide endless hours of entertainment!

If your child is like most young children, they are fascinated with fire trucks. You don’t have to take them on a field trip to a fire station to enjoy this special rescue engine. Now they can interact with a fire truck anywhere and at any time you allow them to do so. Your child will be amazed at how they can interact with Fire Truck. They can make him jump, laugh, move side-to-side, and many more actions by simply touching the screen of your Android mobile device!

This app is also beneficial to you because it can keep your child engaged at times when you need them to keep still for an extended period of time, such as in a doctor’s waiting room or during a long drive. Be prepared to be shocked (and pleased) by how engaged the app keeps them!”

For iPhones and iPads:

For Androids:

Protecting your family, friends and home starts with fire safety education. Do whatever you can to educate your kids and the kids around you about fire safety. Use these resources and/or any others you may find to do so. Then making sure your home has the right fire protection equipment and keep it maintained. Make sure you have fire extinguishers and consider having kitchen fire suppression system installed in your home.

It can truly be a life or death situation.

If you have any questions or would like to purchase a fire extinguisher(s), have a fire suppression system installed, or need extinguisher or suppression system maintenance, contact us today.