The recent Los Angeles wildfires have practically crippled a vibrant, thriving city. It is a reminder, not that the residents needed any, that fire can strike at any time and that it can wreak catastrophic havoc when it does.
While some individuals and families got away unscathed, the fires claimed many lives and even more homes.
Teaching your child about the dangers of fire becomes paramount relatively early, but not just for families who live in a place like Los Angeles where wildfires can spring up at any time.
A fire can break out anywhere, and not just a wildfire. A cooking fire or one that happens because of an electrical malfunction can also burn a home to the ground in a matter of minutes.
Let’s talk about some ways parents can prepare their kids for fire emergencies. These lessons might save your young one’s life someday, or your own if they act quickly and save the rest of the family.
Teach Them How to Use a Fire Extinguisher
You should have fire extinguishers in your home. If you live in an apartment, you can talk to your landlord about having some on the premises. If you live in a condo or detached house, then you will probably need to buy them on your own.
You can begin teaching your kids about fire extinguishers and how to use them when they’re still relatively young. They must have reached an age where they can pick up the extinguisher and heft its weight, though.
Show your kids where in the home you keep the extinguishers. You will probably want them someplace obvious where your child can quickly grab them. If you have kids who haven’t grown very tall yet, you should have the extinguishers close to ground level.
You can teach them the acronym PASS, meaning pull, aim, squeeze, and sweep.
This means pulling out the fire extinguisher’s pin, aiming it at the base of the flames, squeezing the trigger, and then sweeping the foam that comes out back and forth while aiming at the base of the flames.
Teach Them to Use the Fire Escape
You may also have a fire escape. If you live in an apartment or condo, it’s much more likely. Many apartment buildings and condos have fire escapes running down their sides, and you should let your child know their locations.
Even if you live in a detached house, though, you can still have a fire ladder upstairs. If a fire breaks out downstairs and your family can’t escape that way, your child should know the fire ladder’s location. They can dangle it from a second-floor window and climb down.
You should emphasize that they should only use the fire escape in emergency situations. You can also test the fire escape regularly to make sure it supports a good deal of weight if you have several people using it.
Teach Them to Use a Fire Blanket
You might also decide to have a fire blanket on the premises. You can teach your kids how to use it. Fire blankets don’t cost very much. Like smoke detectors, though, they can save a life in many emergency situations.
You can let your child know that if a fire breaks out, and you’re not there at that moment, that they can use the fire blanket to smoother the flames. You can show them where you keep the blanket.
You can talk to them about the flame-retardant material out of which the manufacturer made it.
Tell Them Never to Cook When You’re Not in the House
Fire preparedness includes prevention. If you still have young children, you will need to figure out what age you feel works best when you’re showing them things like fire blankets, fire escapes, and fire extinguishers. You should also think about what age you should let your children start cooking.
It’s always great to teach your kids how to cook. It’s a life skill that they should find exceedingly useful when they strike out on their own and start taking care of themselves.
However, you might not feel comfortable letting your kids use the stove or certain other potentially dangerous kitchen appliances if they’re still pretty young.
If you have a spouse or partner and you coparent, talk to them about when to let your child start using the stove and similar kitchen paraphernalia. You might start by letting them use the microwave, since that’s safer.
You should let your young children know they’re not allowed to cook on their own, at least till they get to a certain age. By having this prohibition in place, you make cooking fires much less likely.
Let Them Know Where to Meet if There’s a Fire and You’re Separated
You should also talk to your kids about what they should do if a major fire breaks out in your home. Maybe it happens when you’re not around, or perhaps you and your kids can’t find each other in the ensuing chaos.
If that happens, you should let your kids know where you will meet them. Maybe there’s a church, synagogue, or some other religious building nearby where you can meet up. Perhaps you will all get together at a nearby community center.
Make sure your kids know that if they can’t find you, and they don’t immediately see you at the rendezvous spot, that they should call your smartphone.
You might give your kids a cell phone at some point so they can stay in touch with you. That’s a sure way for you all to remain in contact if a fire or some other disaster strikes.
You don’t want to make your kids fearful about fire when they are quite young, but you should still let them know about such things at a relatively young age.
