Why Firefighters and Third Graders
Make Great Partners

 
What do firefighters and third graders have in common? Together, they can be the key to fire safety education that will last a lifetime.

Kids this age enjoy classroom visits from firefighters, and are receptive to safety messages they can teach. Of course, those message need to be age appropriate. At this age, children use “concrete” thinking, and can’t really grasp abstract concepts of “what could happen if...” Their understanding of how things work is based on their own, usually limited, experience and they just can’t anticipate events they haven’t experienced.

For example, in our survey of elementary school children, all understood that one match could burn up a piece of paper. But when asked if a match could burn up a house, only three out of five children between the ages of 7 and 11 believed it could. While they could understand the simple cause and effect of a small flame touching paper, they couldn’t anticipate a chain of events leading to a whole house in flames.

It is only when children are about 12 years old that they are cognitively able to anticipate the whole range of possible outcomes of an event—both outcomes they have experienced and those they have not. But by this pre-adolescent age they can already be more cynical, less willing to engage with authority figures, and less receptive to safety education. By engaging third graders, who are more receptive, firefighters can teach safety messages that survive the transition to adolescence.

So, what can third graders learn? In Rochester, NY, the Rochester Fire Department is working with Fireproof Children to bring classroom education to third graders. The program that Fireproof Children developed for them includes the following age-appropriate lessons:

What they can do to make sure a fire doesn't happen in their home:

• Matches and lighters are tools for adults only.
• Tell a grown-up if you see matches or lighters left lying out.
• Cooking is a major cause of burns. It is an adult activity.

Specific actions children can take, or encourage their families to take, to protect themselves if there is a fire:

• Have smoke alarms.
• Make sure the alarms are working.
• When the alarm goes off, get out and stay out. Don’t come back for anything until the fire department says it’s safe.
• Have a meeting place.

To reinforce the classroom education, the firefighters are also setting up “fire sets” that simulate a home environment. With the firefighters’ guidance the children practice escape routes and learn about 9-1-1, kitchen safety and more.

Thanks to Chief John Caufield, Molly Clifford, and Lt. Willie Jackson of the Rochester Fire Department for working with Fireproof Children to develop this training.

Tools/Resources Available for Classroom Fire Safety Education:

• Elements from the play safe! be safe! multi-media classroom kit appropriate for this age group. For example, discussion/story cards can be used for what happened/what happens next discussion, writing a story, etc.
• Safe for Play/Keep Away! card game to reinforce that matches and lighters are adults-only tools.
• Mikey Makes a Mess, a bi-lingual English/Spanish storybook with a fire safety theme and questions for kids and parents.
• Home safety checklists to prevent fire and burns.
• Resources at www.homefiredrill.org, including:
• Home Fire Drill: Does Your Family Know What to Do? Featuring two Rochester, NY families, this real-life demonstration shows why many families are not as prepared as they believe to escape their home in a fire, and how to plan and practice a home fire drill.
• Help Mikey Make It Out, an award-winning interactive animated game that children can use with their teacher and parents to learn what to do when the smoke alarm sounds.

May be reprinted with copyright and contact information intact.

Related Articles:
Fire is Not Child’s Play (Fire Chief interview with Fireproof Children president Robert E. Cole)
Kids Can be Key to Family Fire Safety
Delivering Safety

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