Knowing what to do in the event of a fire could reduce the risk of injury to your child, and perhaps even save their life. This is particularly important during the summer holidays as risk of bushfire is heightened and families may be holidaying in unfamiliar destinations.
Leading causes of injury
In 20003-04 in Australia, nearly 40% of injuries due to fires, burns and scalds were to children aged 0–14 years. Almost 28%, or 1,415 cases, involved young children aged 0–4 years*.
In children aged 0-4 years, the leading causes of fire, burn and scald hospitalisations between 2003 and 2004 were contact with hot drinks, foods, fats and cooking oils (35.3%), followed by contact with other hot fluids (e.g. water heated on a stove) (19.9%), contact with hot tap-water (9.8%), and contact with hot household appliances (9.4%).
Between 2004 and 2005, for children aged 0–4 years approximately 94% of all fire, burn and scald injuries occurred in the home**. The medical care, rehabilitation and psychological costs of burn injuries are among the highest of non-fatal injuries .
Why children are at risk in house fires***
In the event of a house fire, young children can be easily disoriented and confused, and may hide rather than try to escape a fire. Older children may try to put a fire out when it is unsafe to do so.
The most common reasons for house fires are cooking, smoking and electrical faults in products or in house wiring. Sometimes young children are involved in starting fires with lighters or matches.
Many fires are limited to one room; however these can still be dangerous, producing toxic smoke and reducing oxygen in the house. For this reason smoke inhalation and asphyxiation are leading factors in house fire deaths.
What you can do to reduce the risk
At Home
- Install smoke alarms; test them monthly and replace their batteries annually at the end of daylight saving.
- Regularly practice a home fire escape plan.
- Have fire extinguishers and fire blankets easily accessible in your home; place these near to an exit and at least three metres away from the potential source of a fire, such as a stove, oven or fireplace, to ensure access is not impeded.
- Keep emergency numbers by the phone.
- Ensure children wear fire resistant nightwear to bed.
When camping
- Prepare a fire escape plan based on your area; involve your children in the planning of this so they are more aware of what they need to do in case of an incident.
- Ensure you have a clearly designated meeting place.
- If you light a fire, put it out, preferably with water, not sand or dirt before going to bed or leaving the camp. Many bush fires start because camp fires have been left unattended or allowed to re-ignite because they haven’t been extinguished fully. Check with your local fire authority on the best way to extinguish camp fires.
- Ensure there is a first aid kit on site and preferably a first aid trained adult.
- Check with authorities for any fire restrictions that are in place.
- Keep children away when cooking. Hot water burns are one of the main injuries that occur when camping.
In case of a fire
- Teach children to ‘Get down low and go, go, go’ when there is smoke in the area.
- If a child’s clothes catch on fire, teach them to ‘Stop, drop, cover and roll.’
- Teach children to phone 000 in the case of a fire.
All families should prepare for a fire by discussing and implementing these simple strategies with their children.
Vital resources for your family
For tips on how to prepare a fire escape plan visit your local fire authority or the Home Fire Safety website.
For an interactive fire safety program aimed at children visit Westmead Children's Hospital website .
For more information on child safety visit Kidsafe.
* Berry JG & Harrison JE 2007. Hospital separations due to injury and poisoning, Australia 2003–04. Injury research and statistics series no. 30. AIHW cat. no. INJCAT 88. Adelaide: AIHW.
** Victorian Injury Surveillance & Applied Research System 2004, Hazard 57: Unintentional burns and scalds in vulnerable populations: the very young and the very old, Victoria July 2001 to June 2003, http://www.monash.edu.au/muarc/VISU/hazard/haz57.pdf
*** Kidsafe 2000, Fire Safety, http://www.kidsafevic.com.au/images/stories/pdfs/burns.pdf
