Have students help brainstorm tips to prevent fires or things they should not play with that can cause fires. Ideas may include not playing with matches, lighters, candles, fireworks, stoves, ovens or barbeque grills. Expand on tips students generate to include not putting paper, clothing, blankets or other items over lamps and not putting things in electrical sockets.
Talk about fire drill procedures at school and at home. Have students practice how to line up at the door and walk out of the building safely. Point out that most rooms have two exit points, the door and the window. Show students a map of the escape route from the classroom. Assign students homework to practice a fire drill at home, including finding two exit points from their bedroom and the route they should take to a family meeting place. Have students help test smoke alarms at home, locate fire pull stations at school and check to see if fire extinguishers are still charged.
Share with students tips on safely exiting a burning building. Have students practice feeling the door before they open it. If the door is hot and smoke is coming under the door, show students how to place a towel or rolled up shirt at the bottom of the door to stop smoke from coming into the room. Remind students to not open hot doors. If necessary, look for the second exit. Instruct students on how to crawl on their hands and knees when the room is smoky to breathe the safer air near the ground. Show students how to cover their mouths with a cloth to avoid inhaling smoke and ash.
For preschool, kindergarten and first-grade students, get a play phone and practice dialing 911. Have all students, preschool through fourth grade, practice reciting 911 in case of emergency and stating their own phone number. Start working with first-graders on memorizing their address so they can share this information with a 911 operator when needed. Invite older students to make emergency stickers to place by their phones that list numbers for 911, a local fire station, police and a nonemergency dispatch.
Remind students of the safety tip not to hide from firefighters. They may look different in their fire suits and masks, but they are there to help. Remind students never to go back inside a burning building for anything. This is the job of trained firefighters wearing safety gear, helmets and oxygen masks.
Discuss with students what to do if their clothing catches fire. Show them how to stop, drop and roll. Students should cover their faces with their hands then roll, roll, roll. Students should keep rolling back and fourth until the fire is out. Go outside or to the gym and practice this safety tip.