Poplar Bluff firefighters make hundreds of calls every year. A recent one should be a wake up call to all many about the importance of teaching children what to do in case of a fire and general fire safety principles.
Two children in Poplar Bluff, both under the age of eight, were using a lighter Tuesday to ignite gasoline from an unsecured gas can when the can caught fire and firefighters were called, according to a Poplar Bluff Fire Department report. The can was located near a structure.
Thankfully, when firefighters arrived, the gas can was no longer on fire, firefighters reported. There was heat damage to the siding on the house, but a potential catastrophe didn’t happen.
Capt. Toby Tuggle with the PBFD wants everyone to remind children about some simple fire safety rules when it comes to what to avoid.
“Cigarettes, lighters, matches, all those things are adult things. We always recommend to kids if they find something like that, go tell your parents right away so they can put them away so nobody can get ahold of them. You’re not supposed to mess with those things, and you want to make sure nobody else does,” Tuggle said. “What if some other younger person or another kid comes by and messes with it?
“Let your parents take care of those things. We don’t want kids to be around any of those things. That includes chemicals, bug spray. We don’t want kids to mess with any of that stuff because it may be toxic or hazardous in some way that they don’t understand, and so that’s why it should be left for adults to take care of things like that. You just don’t want any part of those things.”
Parents should also observe some simple, yet lifesaving rules around the house. You should make sure you have smoke alarms on every level of your home. Smoke alarms should be placed inside and outside of sleeping areas. Maintain your smoke alarms by testing them every month, and make sure to change the batteries at least twice a year. Keep your alarms up to date by making sure they are less than 10 years old. Lastly, make sure everyone in your household knows what the alarm sounds like.
Tuggle knows the importance of smoke alarms.
“Every house has to have a smoke detector. It’s a true fact that smoke detectors save lives, and without that detection when you’re asleep, smoke puts you into a deeper sleep,” he said. “It doesn’t take but just a few breaths of smoke, and before you know, you’re overcome with it, which will lead to unconsciousness and ultimately death.”
Parents should also have an escape plan in the event of a fire and practice it at least twice a year. Your family should know two ways out of every room. If you have a baby, make sure you know the best way to take your baby outside in the event of a fire. Everyone in the family should know how to call 911 from outside to report a fire. And, never go back inside a burning building once you’re outside until firefighters tell you it’s safe.
“Make sure you have a meeting spot,” Tuggle said. “It can be the mailbox, the swing set, the big oak tree outside, anywhere that’s away from the house and that’s where we’re going to meet you and the parents or whoever is in charge.”
“We can be told that everybody’s out and we can focus on fighting the fire rather than going in, having to look for somebody,” Tuggle continued. “Once you get out, stay out because sometimes kids will worry about their pet or their schoolbooks or anything like that. You’ve got to remember that none of that stuff is worth risking going back in. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t look that bad, you don’t know how to handle that stuff and you can be overcome by smoke rather quickly.”
While cooking, it’s important to remember at all times that an unsupervised stove can potentially start a fire. Tuggle offered a practical suggestion on how to track of things cooking on your stove.
“If you’re cooking and the doorbell rings, or something takes you away from the stove, take a spatula, take an oven mitt or something like that so that when you look down at your hand, you see that you’ve got something on the stove,” he said. “It reminds you to go back before you get carried away doing something else.”
There are plenty of sites online with even more fire safety tips, and a good place to start would be https://www.usfa.fema.gov/prevention/outreach/fief/index.html.