Every child growing up in Squamish since the early 1980s has had the chance to create their own family evacuation plan thanks to a Squamish Fire Rescue initiative using a portable Fire Safety House - complete with a smoke machine - to practise.
Over the past few weeks, firefighters have visited elementary schools throughout the district to teach safe evacuation in the event of a fire, and Friday (May 28), Brackendale Elementary Grade 3 students had their turn.
Squamish Fire Rescue firefighters Bob Fulton, Sean Sweeney and Kyle Derksen gave the students a lesson in safety before practicing evacuation.
"Now you should always have a plan, even if you're not in your own home, so in case there is a fire or emergency you know how to get out safely," Fulton told the room full of students in Mrs. Law's classroom.
A working fire alarm is key to getting out safely and Fulton asked everyone to familiarize themselves with the sound of a household fire alarm.
"If you've practiced and planned and you know what that noise means, even if you're asleep your sub-conscious brain will go 'Ah I know what that means, that means there's smoke, there could be danger, I need to act.'"
Fulton told the kids if they ever hear a fire alarm they should get down low on the ground and crawl to the exiting door.
"And then you'll check the door for heat, smoke, if it's clear you'll open the door and see if there is any smoke."
He warned the students the Fire Safety House had a smoke generator that will spew out foggy fake smoke to make the pretend house seem like it's really on fire.
"If it's smoky then you close the door and we have an escape ladder out a second floor window," he told the kids.
If smoke was nowhere to be found, the students could get out the door and down a set of stairs to get to the safe meeting spot.
"What if you have pets and how do you get them to be out safe?" asked one student.
Fulton told the children not to waste time by looking for a pet.
"I you're concerned a pet's still inside, tell the firefighters that, don't go back inside," he said.
Another inquisitive mind asked what would happen to her pet fish in a household fire.
Fulton gave to her straight.
"Water does not catch on fire but it will heat up and can boil and the fish will not survive."
But he also told the children not to worry - having a plan helps everyone stay safe.
"Now when you go home today, I don't want you to worry after this, thinking 'Oh my God we're going to have a fire in our house tonight.'
"House fires are relatively uncommon, they don't happen that much but they can happen and if you have made a plan and practiced it with your family, then everyone will know what to do and you'll get out safely."
Sweeney then led the students up a flight of stairs and into a pretend bedroom where the children heard a household smoke alarm.
A few kids experienced a smoke-free hallway and made a run for the exit stairs while a handful experienced a makeshift hot doorknob. With a useless exit door, the third graders had to climb down a ladder from the bedroom window.
Meridy Meikle said she already knew what to do in case of a household fire but had never put all the steps together to practise.
"I went down the ladder, it was fun," said the nine-year-old.
Law said she's glad the students get to practise what they learn from the firefighters and the instructional video.
"It's really good that they actually get to practise, like they see the video, they actually get to practise some of what they see."
