Practicing Firedrills

[Oneluckymom]

When you all do firedrills, what do you use to practice the actual firelalram going off? Mine beeps once when checking the battery so to actually have it go off I would have to go to extreme measures.

What do you do to let the kids know what the alarm will sound like during a fire?

[SilverSabre25]

your smoke detector should have a button to test it. Push that and the ear-splitting shriek goes off.

[Oneluckymom]

your smoke detector should have a button to test it. Push that and the ear-splitting shriek goes off.

I do have that button. But it doesn't stay on for an extended time, just one high pitched BEEP to test. That's it.

[SilverSabre25]

I do have that button. But it doesn't stay on for an extended time, just one high pitched BEEP to test. That's it.

That should be enough to let them know what it's like, I'd think. Or I suppose you could set something on fire and hold it up...

[Oneluckymom]

That should be enough to let them know what it's like, I'd think. Or I suppose you could set something on fire and hold it up...

::Yeah!! I could see that working well in my favor!

[mamac]

That should be enough to let them know what it's like, I'd think. Or I suppose you could set something on fire and hold it up...

Ok, now that was funny! I'm in one of my moods where I could actually picture myself doing that. ::

[mamac]

I do have that button. But it doesn't stay on for an extended time, just one high pitched BEEP to test. That's it.

My husband just went and hard-wired all of our smoke detectors in. When we test ours, every single smoke detector in the house goes of with a lot of beeping and "Fire, Fire" for several seconds. Pretty annoying but we're never going to have to worry about sleeping through it!

[dave4him]

My main goal is to teach them that no matter what, the first and most important thing is to get outside. A lot of people forget that a childs natural instinct is going to be to find the parents or adults, but they need to be taught to throw themselves out of nearest window if necessary.

[MarinaVanessa]

I think as long as you are allowing them to hear what the alarm sounds like so they know what to expect you should be fine.

I do that part (sounding the alarm) after we actually do the fire drill. I have a laminated flame that I colored sort of like this one:



and I tape it to a wooden block and set it somewhere until one of the kid spots it and they call out "Fire!". That's when we start to line up and do the drill. When we come back we talk about what to do when we see fire, what to do if our clothes catch on fire and what what the smoke alarm sounds like. If we need to we will line up again and practice exiting (if they took too long the first time or played around).

[Bugsworthy]

MarinaVanessa, I love that idea of letting the kids discover the "fire"!

[TheGoodLife]

I think as long as you are allowing them to hear what the alarm sounds like so they know what to expect you should be fine.

I do that part (sounding the alarm) after we actually do the fire drill. I have a laminated flame that I colored sort of like this one:



and I tape it to a wooden block and set it somewhere until one of the kid spots it and they call out "Fire!". That's when we start to line up and do the drill. When we come back we talk about what to do when we see fire, what to do if our clothes catch on fire and what what the smoke alarm sounds like. If we need to we will line up again and practice exiting (if they took too long the first time or played around).

Great lesson- love it!

[Chuckles]

I think some of the newer smoke detectors will beep until you release the test button. Maybe try and buy an extra one that beeps more and use it solely for practicing fire drills?

[sahm1225]

Oh, I am going to steal that idea of letting the kids discover the FIRE..

Also - for the providers that take their kids outside for drills - do you live in a warmer climate? Or do you take them all out with the winter gear?

[rmc20021]

We just had our fire drill on Friday and I always remind the kids of the sound of the smoke detector at some point during a drill. Are you holding the button down, or just pushing and releasing it? You have to hold it during the entire time you want it to beep.

I use a large fire I made from orange poster board and will put it by one of the exits when the kids aren't looking as I teach my kids that if one exit is blocked they need to go to another exit.

I have also taught my kids that you can't always see the fire...most of the time it's the smoke that actually kills.

We once had a fire in the attic and would never have known it was there if my husband hadn't been leaving for work and noticed the smoke coming out of the roof...there were no flames shooting out yet so they weren't visible. It was just the smoke.

[Blackcat31]

Also - for the providers that take their kids outside for drills - do you live in a warmer climate? Or do you take them all out with the winter gear?

I keep a stack of blankets by the door. I will grab a couple on the way out. The baby usually gets wrapped in one and the other kids will huddle together in the other.

Our city fire siren goes off on the first Wednesday of the month. We use that as our opportunity to practice the fire drills on a regular basis and then every once in a while, we throw in a random drill as well. Most of the kids have no idea the city one goes off on the first Wed of the month so they don't yet get the pattern and don't expect or anticipate the drill before hand.

All in all, the drill only takes a few minutes so even though the temps are well below freezing here for most the winter, the kids aren't allowed to grab jackets or anything else...because we wouldn't do that in the case of a real fire...kwim?

Since we are only outside for a few minutes I don't think the weather is that big of a deal...especially when you consider the lesson being taught.