Fire and Life Safety starts at home! The aim of the Fire and Life Safety programme is to educate and inform the general public on safety with regards to fire hazards in and around your home.

Your best protection from fire is prevention, your best chance of surviving a fire is to plan your escape.

7 STEPS TO PROTECT YOURSELF

1. KEEP MATCHES AND LIGHTERS IN A SAFE PLACE
Playing with matches and lighters are dangerous because a small fire can easily burn out of control. Matches and lighters should be kept safely - out of sight, out of reach and out of mind of children. If you find matches or lighters, tell an adult to put them in a safe place.

2. WAKE UP! GET A SMOKE ALARM
Most house fires start at night. A smoke alarm will wake you up before the fire burns out of control. So wake up and get a smoke alarm - it could safe your life!
When you hear the smoke alarm, there’s no time to lose.... Don’t try to safe your belongings. Get out of the house and stay out!

3. PLAN YOUR ESCAPE
Many people get trapped inside their homes when a fire breaks out.
Plan your escape. Make sure their is more than one way out of every room, so you can escape easily. Choose a safe place to meet outside your home. Practice your escape plan with your whole family.

4. CRAWL LOW UNDER SMOKE
If a fire breaks out, you need to get out and stay out! Smoke is hot! You can die from breathing in smoke. So crawl low under smoke to escape the fire. Stay low and go, go, go!
Always crawl on your hands and knees never belly crawl. Poisonous gases sink down to the floor.

5. STOP! DROP! AND ROLL!
If your clothes catch fire, act fast to put out the flames.
STOP and do not run!
DROP to the ground and cover your face with your hands
ROLL over and over to put out the flames.

6. COOL A BURN!
Act fast to cool a burn. Put it in cool water for 20 minutes.
Tell your parents to use cool water and never put cream, butter, oil, ice or toothpaste on a burn. These things will make the burn worse!

7. GET HELP FAST!
Call one of the emergency numbers like 107 to get help in an emergency.
Tell them your name and home address and answer their questions. Make sure your house is clearly numbered so that the helpers can reach you quickly.