Thinking back to when I was a little boy, I remember doing a lot of crazy things. One of those things (and probably every parent's worst nightmare): setting something on fire.

Like every other child on this planet, curiosity got the better of me and I had to experiment with everything...including matches. If it wasn't for quick thinking and basic fire safety knowledge that I learned at school, who knows what could have happened!

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Teachers have a huge task on their shoulders to educate students about safety in all areas, but Fire safety, I believe, is just as important as Road safety. Things like what to do when someone's clothing catches on fire and being able to know why a person should stay low to the ground during an escape from fire.

How will they know when they are not taught?

To do a simple activity about Fire safety, one will need the following materials:

Step 1: a piece of material, a jar, a match
Step 2: gymnasium or large room with mats, rugs, two cones with ropes across them

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This is how:

1. Ignite a piece of material and cover it with a nonflammable object. Discuss with the students how the fire was put out because of lack of air.
   
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2. In a large room, have students practice "stop, drop, and roll" techniques on command. Discuss how this activity can put out a fire on a person's clothing.
   
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3. Discuss with students how smoke fills a room and how it affects people's ability to breathe.
   
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4. Have students practice "stay low and go" by crawling under the rope (which represents the imaginary smoke level). The rope should be about two feet off the ground.
   
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Class fire drill:

Hand each student a map of the school and a highlighter.

Have students highlight escape routes on the map. They can practice by walking through each of the possible routes. Assign student pairs to be responsible for each other during fire drills or a real evacuation. The escape route map can be posted on the bulletin board.

Children should also be motivated to plan an escape route at home. They can make a map of their home and then designate the safest escape route for family members.

THE GOLDEN RULE FOR EVERYTHING:

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