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Children's
Safety (what EVERY child must be taught).....
STOP,
DROP, COVER and ROLL
Every child must
know to what to do should their clothing catch fire. Practice
with them the following steps:
STOP
- Don't run or this will fan the flames.
DROP
- Cross your arms in front of you and drop to the floor (this protects
your face and hair from the flames.
COVER
- Cover your face with your hands to protect it.
ROLL
- Roll over and over again to smother the flames and put the fire out.
Then immerse or
run cool running water over any burns for at least 10 minutes and seek
medical aid if required.
Matches
/ Lighters / Etc.
Most of all please
educate children on the dangers of matches, cigarette lighters and other
explosive or flammable items. It is not enough to simply tell
children not to play with them - keep them out of reach of children
and teach them if they find a lighter or match to get an adult to come
and pick it up!
Fire
Plan
Have a Fire Plan
for your home - everyone should know that if they find the house on
fire, they should alert others to the fire, call the fire brigade if
unable to easily and safely extinguish the fire and exit via planned
routes. Do not ever re-enter a burning
building - wait for the Fire Brigade. Everyone should meet at
a planned spot outside in a safe area so that you can all be accounted
for and then stay together.
Get
Down Low and Go, Go, Go!
Tragically when
confronted by a fire in a building a child's natural instinct is to
hide, the smoke, darkness, heat and noise of a fire is terrifying to
children and if the child has been responsible for lighting the fire
they will be afraid of the consequences of having done the wrong thing
and getting into trouble. All too often children will find small hiding
places during a fire which makes not only rescuing them but even finding
them incredibly hard for fire-fighters. That is why it is vital that
children are taught that in a house fire they must get down low on their
hands and knees (where there is much less smoke and heat) and get to
the nearest safe exit to get out of the house and meet the rest of the
family in the designated evacuation point. In other words - Get
Down Low and Go, Go, Go!
Most
of all - Adults Must Act as Role Models -
behave responsibly
with fire and fire lighting implements to set a good example to children.
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