There are squeals of anticipation as smoke enters the room. The smoke alarm does its job and starts to chirp. Excitedly, one by one, each child gets down low on the floor trying to stay below the smoke. Which way out? A nervous little girl checks the door and to her surprise it’s warm. “If the door is warm it’s not safe to go out she thinks to herself. “Try the window” she says to the others. The window opens and one by one they crawl out the window.

Once outside the children gather in their meeting place. Once determined that everyone is there they go to a phone to call 911. Anxiously, the little girl dials 9-1-1. The voice on the other end of the line asks “Do you require Police? Fire? or Ambulance?” “I need the fire department” she says. The little girl continues and tells the Dispatcher her name, the nature of the emergency and the address of the emergency. She is told to stay outside and wait for the fire department.

No this is not a true story. This is what each child got to experience when Gravenhurst brought the Muskoka Fire Safety Trailer to the local schools for Fire Prevention Week (Beechgrove, Gravenhurst Public and K.P. Manson). The children were taken through in groups of 6-8. In each room they are asked to point out the fire hazards and explain how to make each room safe. They go through the kitchen to the living room and from there they enter the bedroom. Along with having fire hazards, it is also the room that the smoke will be pumped into. The trailer has a smoke machine (the smoke is what they use in theatres and is not hazardous) which can be piped into any room in the trailer. One of our firefighters turns on the smoke and allows it to float into the room. This smoke will activate the smoke alarm. The purpose of this is to have the children make some decisions in the smoke. They are taught that they have to have 2 ways out of every room. They feel the door and the heater in the door causes it to feel warm. They have to go the only other exit they have, the window. While they are getting low and checking the door the smoke floats around the room and the smoke alarm continues to beep. The children are taught to stay calm under pressure and remember the steps. One by one they crawl out the window and come down the ladder under the supervision of another firefighter.

From there they are taught to gather at a “Meeting Place”. This is a place that their whole family knows about and is to meet at in the case of a fire. The students are reminded that once they are out they are never to go back inside. There is a phone outside the trailer where they can practice calling 911. Inside the trailer there is another firefighter who answers the phone and takes the child through the questions a real 911 dispatcher would ask.

This trailer is a great tool for teaching children not only to be fire safe but what to do in the event of a real fire. The learning does not end with the trailer; the children go home and share what they have learned. Each student is asked to do a couple of things for us when they go home. 1) They are asked to get someone at home to help them check their smoke alarm (this encourages them to be a part of keeping the house safe by making sure that they have a working smoke alarm. 2) Practice a home escape plan with the entire family.

The trailer has proven to be an excellent tool in teaching fire safe behaviors to children. Not only do the children learn and have a great time so do the firefighters.