Smoke Detective Fire Watch
Grade Levels : (2 or 3)-5
Lesson
Objective
Primary Subjects/Skills
Suggested Procedure
Lesson
Objective
Learn more about fire causes and
detect patterns in fire occurrence that can be helpful in
devising prevention measures.
Primary
Subjects/Skills:
Science (the fire triangle), English Language Arts, Math (calculations,
percentages, graphs and patterns), Social Studies (Current
Events, Geography, History) Critical Thinking, Research and
Analysis
Resources:
• Fire Extinguisher
ABCs section of the Command Center
• Home Hazard Hunt
Game
• Home
Hazard Checklist
Suggested
Procedure:
This activity will work best over time, as a one or two semester
project., if possible. It can also be done as a historical
project, looking back on fires that occurred over the past
year or two. You can also go further back in time and tie
the lesson to a period in American History the class may be
studying.
Start with a lesson on the fire triangle to
make sure your students understand the basic elements needed
to start and sustain a fire.
Ask students the key ingredients of a fire.
Answers might be wood, matches, flames, fuel, wind or air,
etc. Write down these answers in three categories or columns.
Tell students there are only three basic things that are needed
for a fire to start and to keep burning. As they can see from
the lists, there are many items that are part of a fire, but
they fall into three categories. Write the headers above each
list:
• FUEL – something to burn
• AIR – specifically oxygen
• HEAT – a spark, a flame
These three components make up the Fire Triangle. If all three
things are not present, a fire cannot start and cannot keep
burning. That is why Stop, Drop & Roll puts out clothing
fires. It smothers the flames and cuts off the oxygen.
Direct students to the Fire Extinguisher page in the Command
Center. They will see that there are distinct classes of fires
which have different kinds of fuel. These fires are stopped
in different ways. But, it always means taking away one of
the three parts of the triangle. Use the descriptions on the
page to talk about how different fires start and how they
can be stopped. Discuss common causes of home fires. These
would include fireplaces, wood stoves, extension cords, smoking
in bed and cooking fires. Help students get information from
the web or their local fire department.
Divide the class into two or more Smoke Detective Investigative
Teams and assign them to keep track of all the fires they
hear and read about in your city. One student from each team
can be assigned to call the local fire department for statistics.
This is the kind of information they will be gathering:
• Time of fire (date, as well as hour of the day)
• Location of fire
• Cause of fire
• Type of fire
• Whether or not the location had smoke detection and
protection devices
• Number of “alarms” the fire warranted
(This statistic should be accompanied by a brief report on
what an “alarm means.” Have students find out
and explain the difference between a one-alarm fire and a
five-alarm fire.)
• Amount of people killed or injured
• Ages of people killed or injured
• Nature of the property damage
In creating reports and analyses, teams can
focus on two or three of the statistics and draw conclusions
from the data. At the end of the “firewatch” (the
semester, the year, etc.) each team will produce a chart or
graph demonstrating trends in community fires and a map showing
fire patterns and frequency by area.
Discuss students’ findings and work
with them to formulate preventive measures. For example, there
will probably be an unusually high occurrence of fires during
the winter, when people may practice unsafe heating techniques
as they attempt to keep homes warm. Dry seasons can also bring
about more fires and less water to extinguish them. More children
may die in fires because of their lack of knowledge of fire
safety. Elderly people may be physically unable to escape.
Based on the findings, teams will devise
prevention strategies that can be turned into a report to
share with the school, families and the community.
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