Kids Would Stay in Burning Buildings, Survey Shows
Categories: Kids 5-7, Kids 8-11, Safety, In The News
Does your child know what to do in a fire? Credit: wili_hybrid, Flickr
OK, class, what is the first thing you do if there's a fire?
Most children don't know that when there's a fire, the first order of business is to get out of the building.
Some 53 percent of kids said they would do something other than leave the vicinity, according to a survey of children and parents released this week by Underwriters Laboratories.
That troubling news was particularly startling to John Drengenberg, the consumer safety director at UL who helped craft the survey of 300 children ages 5 to 10. The majority of children said they would call 911 or find an adult or teacher. A few said they would hide or just flat-out didn't know what to do.
On the plus said, Drengenberg said, the vast majority of parents, 92 percent, said they talk to their children about how to respond to fires and other emergencies, while 89 percent of the children said they listen. Or do they?
If parents and children are talking -- and more than half the kids don't realize that getting out of a burning building is job number one -- Drengenberg suspects there might be a communication breakdown.
"The information may not be correct on the parents' end," he said in an exclusive interview with ParentDish. "The end result is definitely disturbing."
Children are often told about the importance of calling 911 in emergencies, Drengenberg said. Maybe they hear that too much.
"They might be mixing different messages," he theorizes. "I don't what's going on in their little minds."
One thing is clear from the survey, he said. "We need more education when it comes to emergency situations."
The School Safety Survey was conducted by by Kelton Research on behalf of UL between April 16 and 23, 2009. Questions were asked by phone calls, e-mails and online surveys.
The majority of parents surveyed, 74 percent, said they've told their children that getting out is the first priority in a fire.
The phrase to use is "get low and go," said Drengenberg -- meaning people should get low to the ground while escaping a fire to avoid smoke inhalation.
Drengenberg said schools still conduct fire drills, but it has fallen out of vogue with businesses. More offices should conduct fire drills, he said. And so should families -- at least twice a year.
The main message parents and kids should take away from the survey is a simple one, he said. "Your first job is to get out of the house."
Would your kids know what do to in case of fire?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Christina 8-08-2009 @ 5:08PM
In our house we have ALWAYS responded to smoke detectors going off with a FULL FAMILY FIREDRILL. You know, how often does the smoke detector go off when you're cooking, the fireplace flue didn't get opened, even the chirping when the batteries are low? Every time that has happened, no matter how inconvenient, we've had everyone leave the house and gather on the sidewalk. When we ignore smoke detectors because of burnt pork chops what are we teaching our kids? And we miss a valuable opportunity to practice a lifesaving drill.
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Badbrat 8-10-2009 @ 11:46PM
Wouldnt it just be better to explain the difference between a dangerous fire and smoke from the stove. It just kinda seems unnecessary to me and when he gets older that's gonna get annoying.
LS 8-08-2009 @ 5:17PM
Christina makes an excellent point.
I was struck by the sentence in the story... "We need more education when it comes to emergency situations."
That implies that we need to talk at the kids more. And yes, I know I said talk AT. Because kids simply don't learn by being talked at. You can talk until you're blue in the face and they won't learn a damn thing. Walk them through something once, and the light goes on. Walk them through it a couple more times, and it becomes automatic.
Our family has fire drills, and, since we live in 'tornado alley', we actively participate in storm warnings. We monitor the weather on the computers and TV, and each member has a job to do, if we have to 'hide' from a tornado... from rounding up emergency supplies (flashlights, walkie talkies) to collecting pets. It's second nature now, although we've never had to do it for "real" - no tornado has ever even come close. But we know what to do, and we do it quickly, and most importantly... without panicking.
That's the biggest thing - panicking. Kids know the theory behind what to do in an emergency... call 911, find a grown-up, whatever... but unless you practice it every chance you get, it's not going to sink in.
Stop talking and get DOING.
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Kathy 8-10-2009 @ 3:05PM
When I went to school, basic life skills were stressed and practiced over and over again. The fire trucks came and :what if" exercises were practiced year after year. Parents spent time talking to kids about emergencies and what to do. The firemen would come and talk about fires and electricity and how to protect yourself. The police would come and talk about protecting oneself from crime. Most situations were covered.
Today schools fail to do this. When the fire truck comes, it's just for little kids for a visit. Rarely do the fire departments send firemen to speak to the students about safety. Teachers are unable to find the time, given the curriculums they must follow. It's no wonder children can't figure out what to do.
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Anne Wingate 8-10-2009 @ 3:27PM
When I was in CSI, I worked arsons and fire deaths. Typically a child in a building on fire, without an adult to explain what to do, will run into a closet or hide under a bed. In one tragic case a woman was gone to a bar "for fifteen minutes" while a fire burned through a two-hour-safe barricade in her house. Neighbors got most of the children (hers or visitors') out, but one five-year-old girl ran into a bedroom. closed the door, and entered the closet. She was still alive when firefighters arrived. As they tried to get to her, a coat behind her caught fire and set her clothing on fire. She tried to run out of the closet and fell face-down into boiling water. That was over thirty years ago, but I will never forget that charred back and boiled face and chest. The mother was hysterical and continued to insist that she'd been gone only fifteen minutes. That was clearly untrue, on the basis of the evidence.
Make SURE your children know what to do. The woman who leaves the burning pork chops to hold a fire drill is right. The pork chops can be replaced. The children can't. Yes, that can be stopped when the children are older, but as long as they are too small to remember AND INTERNALIZE such things, the fire drill is best.
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Lauryn 8-10-2009 @ 4:24PM
How were these questions worded? That would make a big difference. The chaos that would ensue if a teacher or parent thought a child was missing inside a burning building, when they had actually run out on their own, would end up putting a lot more people in danger than if the kid had gone back to their classroom (if they were in the bathroom or something) or run to find an adult and then exited together so that the adults knew they were safely outside. Thus I don't disagree with the kids who said they would find a teacher or adult. Obviously something needs to be taught, though, if some said they would hide or had no clue what to do.
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Lois 8-11-2009 @ 7:06PM
There are so many reports of children found in closets or bathrooms after a house fire is extinguished. I think their first inclination is to hide from the fire.
It would behoove parents to conduct fire drills often with their children from a young age and to have rope ladders in second story bedroom windows and teach them how to use the ladders.
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