Fire Safety
By Christina Gray, Lindsey Hillyer, Bryan Merritt, and
Ryan Moll
     In every newspaper there is always an article about a house fire. Most are started
 by children playing with lighters and matches. Fire safety is a neglected
problem. There are many ways to protect your home. Install smoke detectors throughout
 your home and change your battery twice a year. Most news sources remind you to
change the battery when you change you clock forward or backward. Never leave matches, lighters, candles, etc. out where young children can get hold of them.
For instance, recently in Peoria a five-year-old boy set his house on fire while playing with a lighter he found. An estimate loss of $30,000 and a homeless family was the result. Leaving things on the stove for too long, overloaded circuits, and clothes on lampshades are just a few of the many fire hazards. If your house does catch on fire, follow these simple rules:
    1. Remain calm
    2. Try to get out the closes exit
    3. Feel doors to see if it is safe to proceed
    4. If there is smoke, crawl under the smoke to breathe clean air
    5. Don’t go back inside the building for any reason
Fire safety is very important and could save your life.
     Authors Comments
    I think fire safety is a smart thing to teach to kids. If there weren't fire safety there would probably be more fire accidents more then there would be car crashes, and airplane crashes. If there were better fire safety there would be more car, and airplane accidents than fire accidents.      -Ryan Moll
 

    Parents need to be very careful of children. Kids at young ages are able to find almost anything. For example, the five-year old boy that found a lighter and set a bed mattress on fire. He got his mother and everyone else got out of the house safe, but there was around $30,000 in damage. The house collapsed and there was nothing left of it. The Red Cross gave them temporary housing. There was one firefighter who sprained his knee, but no one else got hurt. Do not play with lighters. Parents should watch over their children a lot better.      -Lindsey Hillyer

    Every person should know about fire safety. Matches and lighters cant be left in harms way. Also the young kids need to be educated to learn things like to leave that alone and tell an adult to take care of it. The world is dangerous enough without children playing with fire. As a community, we should take some serious action.
       -Christina Gray

     I think that teaching fire safety is the responsibility of parents.
If parents would take the time and teach fire safety to their child there would be a lot less fires. If parents would keep lighters and matches out of reach of
children there would also be less house fires.   -Bryan Merritt
 

Sources: The Journal Star

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