Fire Safety For Children with Special Needs

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All children should be considered in any plans and education on fire safety, prevention, and evacuation. The following questions and discussions encourage the inclusion of children with special needs into any family or community effort to promote awareness of how to prevent fire-related injuries and death.

1) Is the child able to get out of your house? school? church? or other frequently visited location in event of a fire? Are there plans in place to make certain that each child will be able to evacuate these locations should a fire occur at any time?

2) If a child cannot speak, walk, hear, or see, does your emergency plan account for action steps to assist the child and to transport any necessary medical equipment to a meeting place outside the building?

3) How does the child learn information? All children learn differently. Some may require pictures or verbal repetition. Others may learn by touching their way through the home, school, or church for at least two evacuation routes or by listening for information put on audiotape. Others may learn by modeling the behavior of others as the entire family practices and evacution plan. The basic information for fire saftey, prevention, and evacuation needs to be conveyed in a manner that gives each child an opportunity to learn and practice steps that will save his life.

4) Is the child able to dial 911 and give information about an emergency? Check with local fire departments or 911 services to be certain they are TDD-equipped. Will a 911 operator be able to undestand the child? If not, other options may be to have an alarm system installed that will automatically alert your local fire department of an emergency.

5) Who helps the child evacuate in a fire? Can family members or other care providers share roles and responsiblilities to assist in the evacuation of the child? No other person should have the responsibility due to the unpredictability of fire.

Appropriate persons in the family or community should know how to transfer the child from a bed or sitting position to a wheelchair or blanket, if the child cannot walk. Make certain that this team of persons also knows if the child requires any medical equipment or medications to maintain life support in a fire emergency.

6) Is the child afraid of or unfamiliar with firefighters? A fire can be frightening to any child and the presence of emergency personnel in full gear may be equally as frightening. Introduce the child to fire fighters and law enforcement officers. Have firefighters dress in front of the child in full gear, so children will see what the personnel looked like before. Let the child practice putting on the gear to help them understand the functions of each piece. Make certain that the child understands that these personnel provide help and support in a fire and that children should not hide, run away, or refuse their help. For example, you may want to have children color pictures of firefighters in full gear or encourage visits by a local fire department or law enforcement agencies with the child's class at school.

Special Needs Alert

Many agencies such as fire departments, law enforcement, 911 centers, poison control centers, and ambulence services maintain computer data bases or other records systems where information is stored that could assist staff in an emergency response to a home. It is important to update this information, once it is on file, so that accurate decisions can be made by staff to help a child in an emergency. Use this form to provide agencies with information about a child with special needs.