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.
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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)