What you need to know about fire prevention to keep your family safe

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A little education and a little practice can go a long way to make sure your family stays safe in the worst-case scenario of a home fire.

Transcript

00:00 Our coverage on Fire Prevention Week continues tonight.

00:03 The annual campaign was created 101 years ago

00:06 by the National Fire Protection Association.

00:09 Jeff Cornish spoke with Lorraine Carley,

00:12 Vice President of Outreach and Advocacy for the NFPA

00:16 about what makes Fire Prevention Week so important.

00:19 It's an opportunity for the fire service,

00:23 teachers, organizations to all come together

00:26 and share critical fire safety messages

00:29 around this week and oftentimes

00:31 throughout the month of October.

00:33 This year's theme for Fire Prevention Week

00:36 is Cooking Safety Starts With You,

00:38 Pay Attention to Fire Prevention.

00:40 So cooking fires is the leading cause of home fires.

00:43 And typically what we see is the cause of those fires

00:46 is leaving cooking unattended.

00:49 What are some tips for keeping your family safe

00:51 from kitchen fires?

00:52 Yeah, the biggest tip that we have

00:54 is always keep a close eye on what you're cooking.

00:57 If you're particularly have something on the stove top,

01:01 make sure you're staying by that.

01:02 If you have to leave the room for some reason,

01:05 make sure you turn off the stove.

01:07 Clear your cooking area of anything that can burn.

01:10 So that's things like dish towels or paper towels,

01:13 food wrapping, make sure those are a safe distance away

01:16 so that they don't catch fire.

01:19 We also tell people to turn handles in on pots

01:22 so that they don't get knocked over if somebody walks by.

01:26 And also keep a lid nearby when you're cooking.

01:28 In case you do have a grease fire,

01:30 you can shut off the heat source

01:33 and just slide that lid right onto the pan

01:36 to extinguish the fire.

01:38 The concept of fire safety can bring up some scary topics

01:41 for young children sometimes.

01:42 So how can families talk about fire danger

01:44 and make plans to be safe?

01:46 We actually find that children are great receivers

01:51 of the fire safety messages if you do it in a fun way.

01:55 The NFPA mascot is Sparky the Fire Dog.

01:58 He has his own website, which is sparky.org,

02:01 which has lots of games and activities,

02:04 such as coloring tip sheets and things like that,

02:07 that families, teachers, and everybody can use

02:10 to educate young children.

02:12 Also practicing around your home.

02:14 Practice listening to the sound of a smoke alarm.

02:17 Practice listening and practicing what you need to do

02:21 when you hear that sound,

02:23 how are you gonna get out of your home.

02:25 Kids love to practice that and see how quickly

02:27 that they can get out of the home.

02:29 And regarding that escape plan,

02:31 how can you make a plan for your family

02:33 to follow just in case?

02:35 Just in case, you can create a fire safety escape plan.

02:40 There are some plans that you can download

02:43 from the NFPA website, as well as the sparky.org website.

02:46 Or you can just take a piece of paper,

02:48 draw a floor plan of your home,

02:51 identify two ways out of each room,

02:53 identify where the exits are,

02:56 identify where your smoke alarms are,

02:58 and then practice that escape plan.

03:01 Great advice.

03:01 Lorraine Carley, Vice President of Outreach and Advocacy

03:04 for the National Fire Protection Association.

03:06 Lorraine, thank you so much.

03:08 Thank you, Jeff.

03:09 Stay safe.

03:10 (upbeat music)

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