What Teens Should Know About Fire
As a teacher and educator, you know that children have a natural curiosity. Unfortunately, this can include a curiosity about fire. To successfully prevent this natural interest from having disastrous results, children must be educated on the dangers of fire.
Most firesetting can be prevented.
Let’s explore several steps that you can take to educate your older students and decrease the likelihood that they will start a fire.
Educate your older students about fire facts and safety rules.
Because of their age, you can now discuss with teens the serious consequences of firesetting. The secondary bullet points are suitable for discussions with these older students. Here are some examples of facts for discussion:
- Because it creates heat, fire is very dangerous and can kill.
- It is darker, hotter, smokier and faster than students think.
- A fire’s heat can create temperatures of over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which can stop a human body from functioning.
- One breath of hot air can cause severe lung damage.
- The heat can cause a person to become unconscious and they won’t be able to escape the fire.
- Even small fires can spread very quickly.
- An entire home can be consumed in flames in less than 5 minutes from the time the fire is started.
- A fire can spread quickly and burn for hours before it is discovered.
- Deadly gases from a fire’s smoke can move so rapidly that sleeping people can not wake up in time to escape.
- Only adults should use fire, and even they need to follow fire safety rules.
- Adults need to learn when they can fight a small fire and when to escape.
- Even adults can mistakenly throw water on a kitchen grease fire and make the fire more serious.
- Fire is not a toy, it is a tool that adults use to heat homes and cook foods.
- 4 out of 5 fire deaths are from home fires, showing how the use of fire in the home should be taken very seriously.
- Lighters that are designed to look like toys should never be used, and should be given to an adult immediately.
Control a student’s access to fire.
- Teach students to immediately bring any matches and lighters they find to an adult.
- Demonstrate what “toy” lighters look like and teach them never to touch them.
- Supervision is key to preventing firesetting. Although you do not see your students outside of school hours, you can provide proper supervision while on the school grounds and report any firesetting activity.
Set a good example for your students.
Teach students fire safety rules in the classroom as part of the curriculum.
Practice fire safety in the school to give students real-life examples of safe fire behavior. By following fire safety rules at school you will encourage positive behavior in your students, both at school and at home.
- Install and properly maintain smoke detectors and fire extinguishers throughout the school.
- Review fire escape plans with your students and practice school fire drills.
- Practice fire safety techniques on a daily basis and discuss the reasoning behind the rules with your students.
If you have a student that shows an above-average interest or unusual curiosity about fire, recommend that the student and his parent enroll in a fire safety course. Fire safety courses are particularly beneficial for students with high levels of curiosity about fires. When teens witness examples of the devastating effects of fire, they are less likely to experiment.