Prevention through education

PRINCETON — In 2006, 80 percent of the people who died in fires in the United States, died in some of the 400,000 home fires reported last year.

Though the chance of having a house fire is high, there are things you can do to maintain the safety of your family.

This week is Fire Prevention Week, and the theme is “Practice your Escape Plan.” In honor of the week, students around the county are learning what they should and should not do when a fire starts in their home.

According to a poll by the National Fire Protection Association, only 23 percent of U.S. households have developed and practiced a home fire escape plan.

Homeowners are encouraged to develop an escape plan and practice at least once a season. Follow these steps to ensure your family’s safety.

• Make sure smoke alarms are installed inside each bedroom and outside each sleeping area on every level of the home.

• Maintain smoke alarms and test them once a month.

• Create a home fire escape plan that identifies two ways out of each room and a family meeting place outside. Make sure the plan allows for specific medical needs of family members. When the smoke alarm sounds go to the closest exit. If there is smoke on the way out, use the second exit and get low under the smoke.

Princeton Fire Chief Gary Hanna said his department will be making the rounds to all the public and private schools in Princeton and two daycare facilities to take about fire safety. At the preschool age, the students learn the “Get out, stay out” slogan of getting outside and not returning inside the home during a fire.

Hanna also said a firefighter will show the preschool children all of his gear and will slowly put it on, explaining what each piece is used for. He’ll even crawl on the floor with his gear on, showing the students what to expect if a firefighter ever has to come into their home.

“You know, for most kids they’re terrified as it is when their house catches on fire. But if they can’t get out and then they hear a loud, large monster crawling towards them, it scares them even more,” Hanna said.

“We try to give them all the information we can, so they can put a face to that monster. So they know, that’s not a monster, that’s a fireman,” he added.

Hanna said they will be showing instructional videos to a lot of the younger grade levels and will be teaching stop, drop and roll to kindergartners, instructing them on the steps they should take if their clothes are on fire.

Hanna said they will be demonstrating a new safety program to area second-graders, provided by the departments fall and winter fundraising efforts.

Junior high students will be shown a video based on a real house fire where a child died. Hanna said they will preface the movie by asking students questions on how they would handle a house fire, and then will analyze the movie on what the family did wrong.

“Fire 20 to 30 years ago was slower growing than it is today. In our homes now, we have a lot of plastic items and one of the main components in plastic is petroleum. So a home can go from 70 degrees to 2,000 degrees in minutes,” he said.

“If you were to wake up tonight and the smoke detector goes off, you don’t want to lay there and think, ‘What do I do now?’ You want to know now what you’ll do in that moment,” he added.

Hanna said families who have an escape plan and can assure firefighters all family members are out of the house when they arrive on scene makes their job easier.

Hanna said a search of the home is still conducted and an attempt to rescue pets is made.

“When we went to that fire recently on South Main Street (in Princeton), there was no one who owned the home outside, so we didn’t know if there was anyone inside. Whether we know or don’t know makes fighting the fire a different atmosphere. It’s more relaxed,” he said.

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