October 6-12 2019
This year’s NFPA Fire Prevention Week theme is “Not Every Hero Wears a Cape. Plan and Practice Your Escape!” This theme touches on what it means to be a hero and how important it is to have a fire escape plan.
Not Every Hero Wears a Cape
The first part of 2019’s theme talks about the different kinds of heroes we can find in our community. Take a minute and think about the heroes in your life. Is it an athletic coach, a fire fighter, someone in your family? Heroes come in all shapes and sizes.
NFPA describes a hero as, “someone who takes small, but important actions to keep themselves and those around them safe”. When relating this to fire and life safety this could be a fire fighter or anyone who takes action in preparing and protecting someone from fire. Anyone can take on this role, all you have to is take action.
Plan and Practice Your Escape
Fires break out and spread extremely quickly. NPFA says that it is important to plan and practice escaping in your home because:
- Home escape planning and practice ensure that everyone knows what to do in a fire and is prepared to escape quickly and safely.
- Today’s homes burn faster than ever. You may have as little as two minutes to escape safely from the time the smoke alarm sounds.
- When the smoke alarm sounds in a real fire, it’s too late to start making a plan.
When creating a plan, NFPA recommends that you:
- Map it Out – draw or map out the layout of your home, marking two exits from every room (typically a door and a window) and a path from each exit to the outside.
- Smoke Alarms – mark the location of all smoke alarms in your home. There should be at least one on every level, in each bedroom, and near all sleeping areas.
- Meeting Place – Pick a meeting place outside in front of your home where everyone will meet upon exiting.
- 911 – Make sure everyone knows how to call 911 or the local emergency number from a mobile phone or neighbor’s phone once they are safely outside.
More Resources
Check out blog posts about fire and life safety and Fire Prevention Week:
NFPA also has some great resources and actives to help educate kids about fire and life safety:
Be a hero this Fire Prevention Week and create a plan!
-The IFS Team
