Fired Up English teacher resources -
Part 2: Home Fire Safety
Click on one of the lessons below to start.
Lesson 3: Home Fire Dangers
Lesson objectives:
- For students to understand the dangers of house fires.
- For students to know how they can prevent home fires.
Animation:
Kitchen Fire Safety (developed for the Fired Up English resource)
Key messages:
- Each year there are more than 3,000 house fires in Victoria. That's more than eight per day.
- On average 20 people die every year in house fires.
- Over one third of all house fires in Victoria occur in the kitchen.
- Most can or could have been prevented by doing simple things.
Prevent fires in your home:
- In the kitchen, you should never leave cooking unattended. Always stay in the kitchen when you are cooking.
- Keep tea towels and curtains away from cooking because they can catch fire.
- Make sure that you do not leave candles or incense burning if you are not in the room.
- Keep clothes you are drying away from your heater; they must be one metre away.
- Do not plug in too many electrical appliances to a power board because they can overheat and start a fire.
- Never leave electrical appliances, like computers or phones charging on bedding.
Levels 0-1 teaching tools and activities
Levels 2-4 teaching tools and activities
Optional - Interactive Home Fire Safety Checklist
Resources
Lesson 4: Smoke Alarms
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
Lesson 5: Escape Plans
Lesson Objectives:
- For students to understand the importance of escaping a building if there is a fire or other emergency.
- For students to prepare an escape plan for their home.
Animation/Video:
Key messages:
- If there is a fire in the house you need to know how to get out.
- All households should have a home escape plan that is well known and practiced by all members of the household.
- Everyone in the house needs to know how to get out, stay out and call Triple Zero (000).
If there is a fire in a building:
- Get down low and stay out of smoke.
- If it is safe, close doors on your way out/behind you to slow down the spread of fire and smoke.
- Alert other people on your way out.
- Get out and stay out.
- Meet at a safe place, such as the letterbox outside your home.
- Call (Triple Zero) 000 from a mobile phone or a neighbour's phone. Ask for FIRE when the call is connected.
Levels 0-1 teaching tools and activities:
Levels 2-4 teaching tools and activities:
- Activity 5.3 - Draw and create your own home fire escape plan (PDF 148.6KB)
Students need to go home and practice their escape plan with their household members.
- Activity 5.4 Role play in groups - the six key points when evacuating a building (listed above)
- Activity 5.5 Practice the evacuation drill at your site
Lesson 6: Calling Triple Zero 000
Lesson objectives:
For students to know how to call Triple Zero (000) in an emergency.
Animation/Video
Key messages:
- Triple Zero (000) has interpreters available at all times. We encourage people to ask for an interpreter.
- Calling Triple Zero (000) is free. The fire brigade will not make you pay to attend a fire.
When to call Triple Zero (000)
- An emergency is serious and dangerous and requires immediate action. This includes danger to life, health or property.
- Even when you think you've extinguished a fire in a home, it is best to call Triple Zero (000) to ask the fire brigade to check that the fire is fully extinguished and the home is safe.
What happens when I call Triple Zero?
- When you first call Triple Zero, you will be asked by Telstra which service you require: Police, Fire or Ambulance.
- Triple Zero (000) has interpreters available at all times. We encourage people to ask for an interpreter to speak to you in your language about your Triple Zero (000) call.
- If you are calling from a mobile phone, you may also be asked which state you are calling from. This is because a mobile phone only shows a billing address, not a GPS location. The operator needs to know which state to transfer the call.
The Emergency Service call-taker will first ask:
Where is your emergency?
Followed by:
What is your emergency?
As soon as the call-taker knows WHERE your emergency is and WHAT the emergency is, a computer helps send the closest firefighters, ambulance or police to your emergency.
The call-taker will continue to ask you questions. This will help determine if additional help is required.
The additional information you provide will be passed on to the emergency services.
STAY ON THE LINE: Don't hang up until the call-taker tells you to.
Source - Triple Zero Victoria
Levels 0-1 teaching tools and activities:
Levels 2-4 teaching tools and activities:
Lesson 7: Cooking Fires and Fire Blankets
NOTE - requires a CFA Firefighter or Presenter in attendance
Lesson objectives:
- For students to understand what can cause a fire in the kitchen
- For students to learn how to use a fire blanket and fire extinguishers
Key messages:
- Over one third of house fires start in the kitchen.
- You cannot leave any cooking on the stove or oven unattended.
- Keep your stove clean and place your tea towels away from the stove.
- Pots of oil left on the stove to heat up can create a fire.
- Never throw water on hot boiling oil.
- If a cooking pot is on fire:
- turn off the stove. Do not move the pot.
- use a fire blanket or fire extinguisher OR leave the house and call Triple Zero (000).
- Fire blankets are a large cloth made of special material that will not burn very easily. They come in different sizes.
- They need to be hung in your kitchen away from the stove.
- There are different types of fire extinguishers. Some are for oil fires, some are for electrical fires and some are for paper or wood fires.
Animation and Demonstration by CFA Firefighter or Presenter
Animation: Kitchen Fires - Fire blanket demonstration
Levels 0-1 teaching tools and activities:
Levels 2-4 teaching tools and activities:
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Page last updated: Tuesday, 15 October 2024 12:16:21 PM