E.S.C.A.P.E. Fire Safety | Kid’s Safety

Each year, thousands of children are seriously injured or killed as a result of fires in their homes. Sadly, these deaths are usually preventable through prevention and training before a fire occurs.

Most often, it is the intense heat and thick smoke that brings injury and death to our children, and not the flames themselves. The sudden wail of a smoke alarm, the darkness of night and the presence of smoke, will almost always cause the un-trained child to panic, prompting them to hide in closets, under beds or even in the bath tub. This makes the search and rescue job of the firefighter even more difficult than it already is.

Participation in an E.S.C.A.P.E. program focuses on more than just the ‘Stop, Drop and Roll’ theory of fire safety. With the assistance of Jake the Fire Dog® & utilizing our new 38 foot and older 27 foot fire safety trailers decorated in a children's bedroom theme, we demonstrate and explain, to groups of up to 40 children at a time, the various techniques for escaping a burning home ALIVE! These trailers were built specifically for this purpose and each vividly demonstrates smoke entry through heating ducts and door cracks. It also will show how smoke rises and activates the smoke alarm at the earliest stages of danger.

The smoke we use, although very dense and ‘true to life’, is actually non-toxic theatrical fog and is what is used by firefighters in their training exercises. In short, it is the safest, most effective training tool available today!

Some of the techniques taught to the children are:

• What to do if they wake up at night to the sound of the smoke alarm.
• How to block smoke from coming in under a door or through a heat register if they are unable to leave the room.
• The importance of NOT hiding from the firefighters
• How to properly exit a burning building and once outside, going to a pre-planned family meeting place.
• How & when to properly call 911 for any emergency through the use of a dialing simulator.