Fire Safety and Prevention: A Resource Guide for Child Welfare Professionals

Presenter Notes

[Note to Educator: It is recommended that you have the following resources when delivering this presentation:

• The Fire Safety and Prevention: A Resource Guide for Child Welfare Professionals guide

• Smoke alarms and batteries• Fire Safety Tip Sheet (Appendix A of Fire Safety and Prevention: A

Resource Guide for Child Welfare Professionals)• Home Fire Escape Plan information sheet and grid (Appendix B of

Fire Safety and Prevention: A Resource Guide for Child Welfare Professionals)

• Referral Form (from the DVD)]

Educator to introduce him/herself

Educator can tell audience that:• The purpose of this presentation is to provide training on the Fire Safety

and Prevention resource and to provide an understanding of basic fire safety issues. The hope is that child welfare professionals in attendance will share this fire safety information with their client families to help educate them about fire safety in the home. The goal is to increase fire safety in their clients’ homes.

1

Specifically, the purpose of the guide is to:• Increase fire safety in high risk residences in Ontario• Educate child welfare professionals about risk factors associated with fires• Identify safety and prevention strategies to be used by families• Provide resources to both child welfare professionals and to the families

they work with

The goal is to encourage child welfare professionals to educate clients about key fire safety issues in their homes and for child welfare agencies to work with fire departments to achieve this goal.

2

Let’s start by looking at the background of the guide.

The guide was the result of a series of investigations and studies into fatal fires in Ontario involving children.

For example:• between June 2006 and June 2010, investigations by the Office of the Fire

Marshal into fires involving the fatalities of youth aged 17 and under revealed that six out of 31 fatal fire events involved children who had received services from a children’s aid society. Ten out of the 42 youth deaths over the same period were children involved with a child welfare agency.

3

Further, statistics reveal that:• Home fires are the leading cause of unintentional death for young children• Most home fires occur at night while people are asleep• Every year in Canada, approximately 1,300 fires are started by children

playing with matches and lighters• Most children who died in fires were in homes without working smoke

alarms

4

This graph indicates the number of youth fire fatalities by age in Ontario between 2000 and 2009. Kids under 5 are typically the most vulnerable (often because they need help to escape a fire) and as such are at high-risk of injury and death due to fire.

5

In response to OFM investigation findings and statistics like those you’ve just seen, the Ontario Coroner’s office conducted a study, entitled Paediatric Accidental Residential Fire Deaths in Ontario which reviewed all residential fire deaths involving children in Ontario between January 1, 2001 and December 31, 2006.

The study found that the factors contributing to children’s fire related deaths and injuries were:• the lack of working smoke alarms in homes and/or missing smoke alarms, • children playing with fire starting materials, and • the lack of home fire escape planning. • The study also linked children who died in fires over this period to family

involvement with a children’s aid society.

One of the study’s recommendations was that Children’s Aid Society professionals should pay attention to the presence, location and functionality of smoke alarms when making home visits to check on vulnerable children.

As a result the OFM partnered with the Office of the Chief Coroner, the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies, the Ministry of Children & Youth Services and Toronto Children’s Aid Society to develop the above fire safety and prevention guide

6

The guide is meant to facilitate collaboration between child welfare professionals and the fire service.

Given that residential fire is the leading cause of unintentional death for young children in the home, fire safety and prevention is a concern for professionals whose mandate is to keep children safe.

With the assistance of the local fire department, local children’s aid societies and other community agencies, families can learn how to reduce the risk of experiencing a home fire and how to safely escape if one occurs.

7

Purpose of this collaboration:The fire service can’t get into homes of high risk households to educate about fire prevention and safety issues. However, child welfare professionals can. This collaboration is meant to encourage child welfare professionals to work with the fire department to address fire safety issues in these high-risk households.

8

As mentioned, the study by the Ontario Coroner’s Office identified 3 critical factors contributing to youth fire fatalities in Ontario:

1. The absence of working smoke alarms in homes where fires occurred2. Children’s easy access to fire setting materials3. The absence of home fire escape planning, or people being aware of how

to escape if a fire occurs in their homes

These three issues are the focus of this guide and we want to talk about each of them in detail today. It is hoped that you will be able to educate families you meet with about these three fire safety issues.

9

[Note to presenter: It is recommended that you have smoke alarms as props to show the audience. Demonstrations of testing smoke alarms and installing batteries can be done in the following slides.]

• A consistent contributor to children’s fire related deaths and injuries is the lack of working smoke alarms in homes and/or missing smoke alarms.

• Statistics from the Office of the Fire Marshal reveal that that 46 percent of all home fires where children died did not have working smoke alarms.

• The absence of smoke alarms can increase the possibility of a fatality in a fire by 63 percent.

• Studies show that homes most at risk from fire (low income households) are also the least likely to have smoke alarms installed.

10

• Educator to ask: Can anyone tell me why it is important to have working smoke alarms in your home?

• A: It’s the law and because fire spreads so quickly, that people may have less than 60 seconds to safely escape a fire. 60 seconds!! So early warning of that fire is vital. And only working smoke alarms can provide that early warning.

11

The key messages on the slide are the key messages child welfare professionals can provide to their client families.

Ensure child welfare professionals understand the responsibilities of landlords and tenants re: smoke alarms. Emphasize that if their client families are tenants and their home is not in compliance, they need to discuss it with their landlord.

[Note to educator: This presentation is not intended to focus on the enforcement of smoke alarm requirements, but IF audience members ask about fines associated with smoke alarm violations, remind them that failure to comply with smoke alarm requirements could result in a ticket for $235 or a fine of up to $50,000 for individuals or $100,000 for corporations, depending on the severity of the offence.]

12

• The law requires that smoke alarms be installed on every storey of the home and outside all sleeping areas.

• For added protection, the fire service recommends that smoke alarms be installed in every bedroom

13

Q: Does anyone know how often you should test your smoke alarms?A: Monthly. It is also recommended that smoke alarms be tested after an extended absence from home (i.e. a vacation or trip)

Key Points:• Client families need to know to test smoke alarms monthly

Demonstration: • Test smoke alarm

14

Q: Can anyone tell me how often you should change the batteries in your smoke alarms?A: Change the battery in each smoke alarm once a year and whenever the low-battery warning sounds (“chirps”)

Key Points:• Client families need to know to change the battery in each smoke alarm

once a year and whenever the low-battery warning sounds• Some smoke alarms may be hard-wired to the home’s electrical system,

some of these alarms may have a battery back-up.

Demonstration: • Educator can show how to insert a battery.

15

Q: Can anyone tell me how often you should replace your smoke alarms?A: Replace the smoke alarms every 10 years – they do wear out – including those hard-wired to the home’s electrical system.

16

If there are no working smoke alarms in your client’s home, we ask you to: • Educate the family about the law requiring working smoke alarms• Make sure your client knows what they are responsible for under the law

regarding smoke alarm installation and maintenance. Make sure they know the responsibilities of home owners, landlords, tenants and housing authorities.

[Note to Educator: Explain the different responsibilities of homeowners, landlords, tenants and housing authorities as set out in the Ontario Fire Code.]

17

If there are no working smoke alarms in your client’s home, we ask you to: • Offer to advocate on the family’s behalf with fire departments, landlords

and or housing authorities• Consider contacting the fire department and ask them to install a smoke

alarm and make the home safer• Consult with your supervisor: can your agency provide the family with a

smoke alarm immediately

18

• There is a risk of children setting fires due to children’s curiosity and the unsafe storage of lighters and matches.

• The Office of the Fire Marshal reports that 21 percent of all fires involving child deaths between the years 2000 and 2009 were caused by children playing with fire starting materials

• Since younger children are often curious and may not recognize the danger of playing with matches and lighters, the risk of fires unintentionally set by children is a major risk factor for fire related injuries and deaths of children and other family members

19

These are the key messages child welfare professionals should provide to their clients. Go over each with the audience.

20

Because fire spreads so quickly, people may have less than 60 seconds to escape. That means everyone in the home must know exactly what to do to escape BEFORE a fire occurs. One of the reasons children under five are one of the highest risk groups for fire related injuries and death is that they are typically unable to escape from the home independently. Therefore its extremely important that the family have a home fire escape plan.

21

[Note to educator: Have available the home fire escape planning resource instructions/grid]

Key Points: This is what a home fire escape plan should include:• Make sure everyone knows two ways out of each room, if possible• Check that all exits are unobstructed and easy to use• Assign an adult to be responsible for helping young children, older adults or

anyone else that may need assistance• If caught in smoke, get low and go under the smoke to the nearest safe

exit.• Choose a meeting place outside, such as a tree or a lamp post, where

everyone can be accounted for• Call the fire department from outside the home, from a cell phone or

neighbour’s home• Once out, stay out. Never re-enter a burning building.• Practice your escape plan.

22

The educator should stress that having working smoke alarms and a home fire escape plan can increase your chances of escaping a fire in your home.

23

[Note to educator: show three minute clip of No Time to Spare to reinforce the speed at which fire spreads and the importance of working smoke alarms and home fire escape plans][Click on the black border around the picture to start the video]To reinforce the importance of maintaining working smoke alarms, properly storing fire starting materials and practicing a home fire escape plan, I want to show you the re-creation of a fire that occurred in Ontario a few years ago in which a five-year-old boy died. The mother, father and a second child managed to escape, but the five-year-old became scared and ran back upstairs, where he perished in the fire. The fire was started by the boy, who was playing with matches.At the time, the Ontario Fire Code required that residences have one smoke alarm installed outside sleeping areas. This home did have a working smoke alarm outside the sleeping area on the second floor of the home.The Office of the Fire Marshal had the opportunity to re-create the fire in a home that was identical to that in the actual fire. For the re-creation, the OFM installed an additional smoke alarm on the first storey, as well as heat sensors and video cameras to monitor the conditions and behaviours of the fire. This re-creation provided great insight into fire growth and spread, and was instrumental in building the case for the change to the Ontario Fire Code that now requires working smoke alarms on all storeys and outside sleeping areas of all homes in Ontario. Ask the audience to take note of the amount of time that elapses from the start of the fire to the sound of the smoke alarms on each storey, as well as the time that flashover occurs. This highlights how little time there is for escape and rescue, and the absolute importance of working smoke alarms and home fire escape plans. After showing the re-creation, ask the audience:

"What is your reaction to the fire re-creation?" Reinforce the importance of working smoke alarms and home fire escape plans given the little time people have to escape a fire safely.

24

[Note to educator: have copies of the tip sheet (Appendix A of the Fire Safety and Prevention: A Resource Guide for Child Welfare Professionals guide) available to give to the attendees.]

The final thing we ask child welfare professionals to do with their clients is to go through the fire safety tip sheet found in Appendix A of the Fire Safety & Prevention resource guide.

In addition to the three critical issues we have just talked about, the tip sheet identifies other fire safety issues that can assist families in making a home safer from fire and reduce the risk of fire related injuries and death.

It is recommended that the educator describe why each of these issues is important and how they can prevent a fire in the home.

25

[Note to Educator: Explain the agreement/procedure your fire department has developed with the CAS agency. Explain who will be responsible for what issues. Explain how child welfare professionals can contact the fire department for assistance. If you are using the referral form (included on the DVD) as part of your agreement with the CAS agency, provide a copy of it to those attending the training session and explain how they can use it.]

26

27