Below is a link to the interview Ken Lanphear conducted with E.S.C.A.P.E.’s President and founder Firefighter Michael McLeieer on the WKZO Morning Show Monday morning 08/27/2018.
According to the National Fire Protection Association, U.S. fire departments respond to approximately 5,690 fires at education buildings each year. These fires caused an annual 85 civilian injuries and $92 million in direct property damage. Almost a quarter of all school fires are started intentionally. Safety education and preparation should be a priority for every family and school official.
E.S.C.A.P.E. Fire Safety offers these tips to play it safe as children and adolescents return to school:
- Fire drills should be held at least once a month while school is in session (weather permitting).
- Principals, teachers or other school staff must inspect all exits daily to ensure that stairways, doors, and other exits are working properly and are unblocked.
- On the day of the drill, the emergency drill alarm should be sounded on the school fire alarm system. Make sure everyone can recognize the sound of the alarm and knows what to do when it sounds.
- Teachers, officials, and staff should be familiar with the school’s fire protection system, including the location of fire alarms pull stations and sprinklers.
- Every room in the school should have a map posted identifying two ways out. In schools with open floor plans, exit paths should be obvious and kept free of obstruction.
- On the day of the fire drill, everyone in the school should participate.
- Students with specific needs should be assigned an adult or a student buddy to assist them. Fire drills are a good opportunity to identify who among the student population requires extra assistance.
- While it’s important to make sure that students leave the building as quickly as possible, order is more important than speed when it comes to conducting a safe fire drill.
- Use the class rosters to ensure every student is accounted for.
- Fire drills should be held both at expected and at unexpected time, and under varying conditions in order to simulate the conditions that can occur in an actual emergency.
- School fire drills are a model for students to use in their homes. Encourage students to practice their escape plans at home – just as they do at school
If a student engages in firesetting or other negative high risk taking behavior, contact your local fire department or visit www.kidsandfire.org for a list of West Michigan Fire Department based Youth Firesetting Prevention and Intervention programs.
College Fire Safety
While the above tips focus mostly on elementary, middle and high schools, they can also apply to college buildings, where firefighters respond to about 3,810 fires each year – 88% of which are due to cooking mishaps. Here’s a college-level course in fire prevention:
On-campus precautions
- Cook only in designated areas
- Keep cooking areas clean and free of clutter
- Never leave cooking unattended
- In case of a fire inside a microwave, close the door and unplug the unit
Campus lab precautions
- Never leave lab experiments or pressure vessels unattended
- Keep flammable gases and chemicals away from heat
Off-campus precautions
- Be sure each bedroom has a working smoke alarm
- Make sure the building sprinkler system is well maintained
- Building heating and fire-prevention systems need to be checked annually by fire officials
General precautions
- Identify the two closest exits and all possible evacuation routes
- Know locations of fire alarms and how to use them
- Report vandalized fire equipment to campus security
Fire Prevention Week is recognized each October. However, fire safety should be practiced 365 days a year. Whether you’re at home, in the office or at school, safety should come first. Do your part to protect yourself and those around you Where You Live!
This morning, Michael McLeieer and Jake the Fire Safety Dog joined Ken Lanphear on The Morning Show on WKZO AM 590 and 106.9 FM to talk about hotel and motel safety after 6 people died over the weekend at the Cosmo Extended Stay Motel in the Berrien County community of Sodus near Benton Harbor.
Tune in to AM 590 or 106.9 FM WKZO as fire safety expert Lt. Michael McLeieer from E.S.C.A.P.E. talks about Hotel and Motel Fire Safety live around 9:10 am Tuesday July 31, 2018. You may also listen to the live broadcast by clicking here.
Fire safety is important, even when you are away from home. Vacations and business travel make hotels and motels our home away from home. It is just as important to be prepared and know what you would do in a hotel/motel emergency as it is in your own home.
Here are the facts:
- According to the National Fire Protection Association, on average, one of every 13 hotels or motels reported a structure fire each year.
- There are an estimated 3,900 hotel and motel fires that cause 15 deaths, 100 injuries and $100 million in property losses throughout the United States each year.
- The majority of hotel fire deaths result from fires that started in the bedroom.
- Cooking equipment is the leading cause of hotel/motel fires.
Be safe when traveling:
- The United States Fire Administration encourages you to choose a hotel or motel that is protected by both hard-wired smoke alarms and an automatic fire sprinkler system in each guest room.
- When you check in, ask the front desk what the fire alarm sounds like.
After you check in, you and your family should:
- Carefully read and review the escape plan posted in your room.
- Find the two closest exits from your room.
- Count the number of doors between your room and the exits. This will help if you need to get out in the dark.
- Make sure the exits are unlocked. If they are locked, report it to the management right away.
- Find the fire alarms on your floor. Locate the nearest pull stations to active an alarm.
- Keep your room key and cell phone by your bed and take them with you if there is a fire.
- If the alarm sounds, leave right away, closing all doors behind you. Use the stairs – never use elevators during a fire.
- If you must escape through smoke, get low and go under the smoke to your exit.
If you can’t escape…
- Shut off fans and air conditioners.
- Stuff wet towels in the crack around the doors.
- Call 911 to let the fire department know your location.
- Wait at the window and signal with a flashlight or light colored cloth.
- Most importantly, remain calm.
Click here to download the Hotel-Motel Fire Safety flyer located below.
E.S.C.A.P.E. Fire Safety encourages you to visit the Hotel-Motel List to find lodging for you and your family that provides safety and security!
Lt. Michael McLeieer from ESCAPE Fire Safety speaks with Jim McKinney on air this morning and shares some tips to keep everyone safe around the Independence Day holiday.
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – In 2016 alone, the use of fireworks caused more than 11,000 injuries in the United States, with 35 percent of those injured under the age of 15. That’s according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
With fireworks season in full swing, experts want to make sure you’re being safe before you open a pack of fireworks.
“It’s very important that caregivers and other trusted adults are supervising young children to make sure that they’re not in the middle of something that could go wrong,” said Lieutenant Michael McLeieer of the Olivet Fire Department.
McLeieer says there are some important tips to keep in mind this summer while lighting off fireworks.
Some of them include staying away from buildings, keeping your pets inside, and most importantly, if you’re not sure what you’re doing, just leave it to the professionals and go to a public show.
“Two hundred people per day around the fireworks time, around the independence day holiday, end up in the hospital throughout the United States, so fireworks can be very dangerous,” said McLeieer.
Mark Garrity is the Store Manager at Phantom Fireworks in Lansing. He says fireworks can be dangerous in any situation, even if a person isn’t lighting them off. For example, he says a firework case tipped over on accident at work and blew up right next to him.
“It was a scary experience,” said Garrity. “I mean if you’re not safe with these fireworks you can do some really big bodily harm.”
According to the National Fire Protection Association, firecrackers top the list of causing the most injuries at 20 percent. Sparklers follow behind at 19 percent.
Garrity says even though sparklers are popular among kids, adults should still be the ones to light them.
“I’ve seen these fireworks do some harm to people and I just don’t want to hear about it somewhere else that somebody got hurt because they were using fireworks inappropriately,” said Garrity.
If you’d like more information on how to stay safe during this fireworks season, we’ve put some helpful links for you under Seen on 6.
Officials say it’s better to be safe than sorry.