October is National Fire Safety Month! Have you replaced your smoke detector batteries and planned an emergency evacuation point for your family? Kangaroo Kids will be teaching the children all about fire safety and how to keep themselves and their family’s safe this month.

Kangaroo Kids Child Care and Learning Center has fire safety as a part of their history. Their building, now home to Kangaroo Kids was the North Branch Fire house in the 1950’s. October is a step back in time as firemen from the North Branch Volunteer Fire Department will visit the school to teach the children about fire safety. Seeing a fireman in a full firefighting outfit can be a little scary for young children so this visit helps them to know what to expect if they are ever around a fire and teaches them that the fireman is our friend! According to the National Fire Protection Association, Fire Prevention Week was established to commemorate the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The 2016 Theme is, “Don’t Wait – Check the Date! Replace Smoke Alarms Every 10 Years.”

Here are some things we emphasize at Kangaroo Kids that you can practice at home “Stop, drop, and roll.” This is an important skill to teach children especially with Halloween nearing as there are many candles burning in those seasonal pumpkins. Many times children as well as adults have the impulse to run when their clothes catch on fire, but the best thing you can do is stop and drop immediately to the ground and roll around to extinguish your clothes, running only fuels the fire.

This is also a good time of year to check your smoke detectors, and create an evacuation plan with a specific meeting point at your home. You can also encourage your schools to have a visit from a fire company so children can see these community helpers in full gear and learn they are important friends in our community. It is also a good time to explain to your children that their schools will be having fire drills to help them learn how to be safe if there ever is a fire.

If your children are a little nervous about fire drills here is a fun song or poem by Sharon Siegelman you can sing or read with them:
Did you ever have a fire drill?
We had one today.
Our teacher told us what to do
So We would be ok
There really was no fire at all;
It was only a drill. We walked out to the school yard
And stood there very still.
We could not talk or run or play
Until the drill was through.
Now, if there really is a fire,
We’ll know just what to do.