Be prepared before a fire starts. Canine celebrity, fire safety dog, and Keep Kids Fire Safe Foundation mascot shares tips to help keep you and your family safe

CLARKSVILLE, AR, UNITED STATES, December 22, 2019 /EINPresswire.com/ -- You’ve done all the cooking, cleaning, shopping and decorating for your holiday guests. Now you can kick back and put your feet up, right? Not just yet. According to the Keep Kids Fire Safe Foundation, there’s one very important item that needs to be checked off every holiday to-do list: a fire escape plan with practice.

“You may be familiar with your escape plan, but your guests also need to know how to get out and where to go if there’s a fire,” says Dayna Hilton, Executive Director of the Keep Kids Fire Safe Foundation. “This is especially important with older guests, who may have difficulty moving quickly. There’s no time to waste if a fire starts. You may have less than three minutes to get out of your home.”

Be prepared before a fire starts. Think about your guests’ abilities and make an escape plan around them. Older adults may move more slowly or have trouble hearing a smoke alarm because of hearing loss. Plan for this.

The Keep Kids Fire Safe Foundation and mascot, Molly the Fire Safety Dog, encourage you to do the following when your guests arrive:

• Make a plan. Talk about what you should do if a fire occurs. Include what each person will need to do to get out safely. Help everyone understand that fire is fast, and smoke is a poison that kills.
• Think about the needs of your guests. If someone uses a cane or wheelchair, decide who will help him or her get out. If someone uses a hearing aid or eyeglasses, be sure that these items are kept next to the bed.
• Make sure that you have a working smoke alarm on every level of your home. Put alarms inside and outside all sleeping areas. Test your smoke alarms to make sure that they work. Make sure that everyone can hear the smoke alarm sound. Without a smoke alarm, you may not wake up, and the poisonous smoke can kill you in your sleep.
• Find two ways out of every room. Knowing two exits is important in case one is blocked or dangerous to use. Know how to open doors and windows that lead outside.
• Know where to meet outside your home. If the smoke alarm sounds, go outside. Call 911 from the outside meeting place.
• Practice your plan. Everyone should be included. Walk through the steps that you will take if the smoke alarm sounds. Make sure that everyone knows what to do to get out safely.

“Older adults are more likely to die in home fires,” says Hilton. “They may need help to escape a fire. By planning ahead and planning around their abilities, you can make your holiday gathering a safer one.”

ABOUT MOLLY THE FIRE SAFETY DOG

Canine celebrity, Trick Dog Champion, canine actor, and five-time American Humane Association Hero Dog Award nominee, Molly was recently awarded the American Kennel Club Humane Fund Award for Canine Excellence (ACE) in the “Exemplary Companion Dog” category.

Molly is the Official Ambassador and background actor for the IMAX movie, Superpower Dogs. She has been featured in numerous publications across the world and will soon be gracing the back cover of Anthony Rubio’s Canine Couture coffee table book.

Molly travels over 25,000 miles throughout the United States annually on a mission to help save lives and has been presenting fire safety programs to children and their caregivers since she was nine-weeks old.

In addition to sharing fire safety in “person and dog,” Molly is an active participant in the Keep Kids Fire Safe Foundation’s popular fire safety Skype program, Learning about Fire Safety is Fun, which has reached over 20,000 children and adults.

Whether during the day or in the middle of the night Skyping her fire safety program with children from other countries, Molly has helped reach children from 47 states in the US and 34 countries on six continents. Soon, she will reach yet another milestone, Skyping almost a million “virtual” miles.

ABOUT THE KEEP KIDS FIRE SAFE^® FOUNDATION

Keep Kids Fire Safe^® Foundation is a federally recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization dedicated to teaching fire safety knowledge and skills to children and their caregivers based on current fire safety research. Through its programs, safety materials, and strategic partnerships, the Keep Kids Fire Safe^® Foundation aims to help reduce fire-related deaths, injuries, and property losses.

Dayna Hilton
Keep Kids Fire Safe Foundation
+1 479-979-7328
email us here