Fire safety and Children

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If your curious about what your child/children would do if faced with a house fire, put them to the test! Do you think you’ll like the outcome?

It’s important for children to learn about the dangers of fire, in all circumstances. There are many different ways to bring this to a child’s attention. Information is power, if we can teach children what to do in these situations, they will be able to protect themselves if you are separated.

Here are some essential points:

  1. First things first, Teach them your escape plan. Children can be overwhelmed with fear, a step by step plan of what to do is key for a child’s survival when faced with uncommon happenings.
  2. Practice makes perfect, it’s not enough to talk about it once. Children’s brains are contently growing with new information. Ideally hanging up your escape plan and practising the plan at least twice a year.
  3. When there’s no way out. In the instance of getting trapped by fire, the most important thing to remember is to close the door. Put bedding or cloth under the door to block off any smoke that will seep through.
  4. Wait for help, Firefighters have breathing mask that can look intimidating to children. Make sure that they know what the firefighter gear looks like, so they don’t get scared and hide.
  5. Stop, drop and roll. A key point to save your life, when caught on fire. Most kids first instincts will be to run away which will only make it worse.
  6. Once out stay out – Call 000 – stay safe. Your life can’t be replaced.

Photoelectric & Ionisation smoke alarms

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There are two main smoke alarms used in homes, Photoelectric & Ionisation. The main difference between the two types of alarms are how the alarms detect fire.

Ionisation smoke alarms have a small amount of radioactive material. When a fire rapidly starts it will give off little smoke, however, the smoke particles in the air will disrupt the low, steady electrical current produced by radioactive particles and trigger the detector’s alarm. Yes, Ionisation alarms are great for fires that may start in the kitchen or laundry, although it’s not recommended to install them in such places, as this will create false alarms.

Photoelectric smoke alarms on the other hand uses a beam of light to detect smoky, smouldering fires. Once smoke covers/blocks the light from bouncing to the sensor chamber, it will sound the alarm. These particular fires are resulted in slower burning conditions that produce large amounts of smoke, most common in the home environment. If it isn’t cleaned and dust is allowed to build up, it will give off false alarms.

Studies have shown that photoelectric typically responds to smoke/smoulder within three to five minutes – Ionisation alarms can take up to twenty minutes or more, which can make escape more difficult. Therefore authorities recommend photoelectric smoke alarms in homes.