How much do you know about fires and home safety? Where is the safest air in your home during a fire? What is the proper home safety protocol for a fire? Take this short, six-question quiz to find out the answers to these questions and to test your knowledge of fire and home safety issues. After completing the questions scroll down to the bottom of the page to check your answers.
Lets face it how many of us have really thought about fire protection? It may cross our minds as we watch the news or read the paper. Yet we probably haven't taken any steps to ensure fire safety in our own homes. Unfortunately most people think it won't happen to them. It would be nice if that were true, but as statistics show it is not. Every year nearly 4,000 Americans die in fires and more than 25,000 are injured.
Fire and Home Safety
1. True or False: You are in a smoke-filled room. The correct home safety rule is to keep your head as close to the floor as possible as you exit.
a) true
b) false
Answer: b) false—heat and smoke rise, therefore the air closest to the floor is the coolest. Plastics, nylons, and other manmade materials emit deadly gasses when burned, and these gasses are heavier than air. The proper home safety rule is to crawl to the nearest exit with your head approximately 18 inches from the floor; this is where the safest air is located.
2. True or false: Fire spreads methodically from one object to another and from one room to the next.
a) true
b) false
Answer: b) false—during a fire heat rises and temperatures can exceed 500 degrees. As this hot air fills the area closest to the ceiling it begins to descend and flow under doors and through cracks. Upon contact with a flammable object, this hot air can ignite a new fire in a different room than the original fire.
3. According to home safety guidelines, if a fire breaks out while you are on the second floor of your home you should…
a) open the window and jump to safety.
b) run to the door, open it, and exit the room as quickly as possible.
c) feel the door for heat as high up as possible; if it doesn't feel hot, slowly open it and crawl to safety.
d) none of the above.
Answer: c) feel the door for heat, and slowly open it. If you open the door quickly and the air inside your room is cooler than that in the hallway, a back draft explosion could occur.
4. True or False: Children playing with fires is the leading cause of fire deaths in preschoolers.
a) true
b) false
Answer: a) true—home safety starts with teaching children fire safety rules. Two thirds of those killed in fires started by children playing are under the age of six.
5. While asleep, a fire starts in your home. Upon waking you should…
a) bolt upright and exit your room and home as quickly as possible.
b) run to the window and jump to safety.
c) frantically run out of the house yelling at your family to wake up.
d) roll out of bed and crawl to safety.
Answer: d) roll out of bed and crawl to safety. Bolting upright could easily plunge your head directly into the extreme heat and deadly thick smoke. One breath could prove fatal.
6. If your clothes catch fire, the appropriate home safety procedure is to…
a) run to your neighbor's yard and jump in their pool.
b) frantically jump up and down.
c) throw yourself on the ground and roll around to extinguish the fire.
d) run in circles, scream, and yell until help arrives.
Answer: c) throw yourself on the ground and roll around to extinguish the fire. STOP! DROP! and ROLL! is the home safety rule of thumb when your clothes are on fire. Running amok fans the flames, causing the fire to spread.
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