Lesson objectives:
- For students to know the importance of having working smoke alarms in their home.
- For students to know how to keep their smoke alarm in working order.
Animation:
Smoke Alarms (developed for Fired Up English resource)
Key messages:
- Only working smoke alarms save lives.
- It is law in Victoria to have at least one smoke alarm on each level of every home.
- It is recommended to have a smoke alarm in every room where someone sleeps.
- Without a working smoke alarm in your home you are four times more likely to die in a fire.
- When you are asleep you can't smell smoke. A smoke alarm is your electronic nose. It will alert you if there is smoke from a fire and beep loudly.
- A small fire can burn an entire room in just two to three minutes.
- A smoke alarm provides early warning and time to escape.
- If your smoke alarm is beeping when you are cooking, move it back from the kitchen away from the stove.
Tips to keep your smoke alarm in working order:
- Test your smoke alarms once a month. The alarm should produce a loud "beep, beep, beep" sound when you press the test button.
- Clean your smoke alarms at least once a year. Gently clean dust around the outside cover.
- Replace all smoke alarms every 10 years.
- Replace the battery every year.
- Waiting until the smoke alarm beeps before you change the battery is too late - this indicates the battery is already flat and your family is not protected.
Renters and Landlords
- It is the landlord's responsibility to install and maintain smoke alarms within their properties.
It is the renter's responsibility to:
- Test the smoke alarm every month to make sure it is working.
- Contact their agent/landlord if the smoke alarm is not working.
- Contact their agent/landlord if the smoke alarm emits an occasional chirping noise as this means the battery or unit itself is faulty.
Levels 0-1 teaching tools and activities:
Levels 2-4 teaching tools and activities:
Activity 4.5 - CFA News and Media article series (PDF 629.7KB). Break students into small groups and ask them to read the articles. Then as a group discuss what happened and how it could have been avoided.
Extra Resources:
Smoke Alarms brochure in English (PDF 3.6MB) and other languages