What to Expect the Toddler Years (228 page)

Space heaters are the major cause of home fires in this country. It’s best not to use them at all, but if you do, be sure they turn off automatically if toppled or if something is placed against them. (Labels should say that the appliances are laboratory tested to meet industry safety standards.) Don’t leave a space heater on when you’re not in the room or when you’re asleep. Unless a heater stays cool to the touch when in use, keep it safely out of reach of your toddler and at least 3 feet away from possible combustibles, such as curtains. And never use a space heater for drying towels or clothing, since the heat could ignite these items. Kerosene heaters should be refueled outdoors (and only with kerosene) and no heater should be refueled until it has cooled down completely. Propane heaters, which are intended for industrial use, should definitely not be used in homes. (For information on the environmental and safety risks of space heaters, see page 631. You can also log on to the U.S. Consumer Safety Product website, cpsc.gov).

If you use a wood stove, be sure it is set on fire-resistant material; your local fire department can confirm whether the installation is fire-safe. (Wood stoves pose other problems, however; see page 631.)

At holiday time, be especially careful about any of the following you use:
Decorative lights.
Be sure they are UL-approved and are installed according to instructions. Check cords from lights used in previous years to be sure they are not frayed.
Candles.
Place lighted candles where children can’t reach them and
away from paper decorations; never leave them on a table draped with a cloth that could be pulled off.
Christmas trees.
Dried-out trees pose a serious fire hazard; try to get a fresh one (the needles should bend, not break), then saw a couple of inches off the trunk and set it up in a water-filled tree stand. Maintain the water level in the stand while the tree is up, and when the tree begins to dry out, take it down. Or opt for a live tree you can later plant or donate to a local park. If you use a metallic tree, don’t decorate with electric lights, as this can present a shock hazard.
Fireworks.
There is no such thing as safe fireworks in the hands of a nonprofessional—even class C fireworks, labeled “safe and sane” by sellers, are potentially dangerous; even sparklers, for example, can cause serious burns or blindness. So do
not
use fireworks at home; instead, take the family out to view public holiday fireworks displays. If your family chooses to ignore the no-home-fireworks recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics and numerous safety organizations, at least do not allow children within several yards of the person setting off the fireworks, never leave children alone with fireworks, even momentarily, and never allow anyone who has been drinking to handle the explosives.

Prevention isn’t enough. Children under five (along with the elderly) are the most likely to be injured or killed in a fire—primarily because they are often unable to sense the danger and to get out of the house quickly. The danger is greatest at night, when a fire can smolder for half an hour or more before it’s discovered; by then, it’s often too late to evacuate the family. Which is why it’s so important to streamline detection and evacuation. Here’s how:

Install fire and smoke detectors as recommended by your local fire department (at least one on every floor of your home), if you haven’t already. The best type for the kitchen is a photoelectric model, which is most responsive to smoldering fires and less likely to be set off by cooking smoke. Test all smoke alarms monthly to see that they are in good working order and that batteries on battery-operated models haven’t run down (studies show that as many as 1 in 5 home smoke detectors is not in working order). If yours uses batteries, replace them at least once a year (some experts recommend twice a year)—on New Year’s Day, your child’s birthday, when daylight savings time changes, or on another easy-to-remember date.

Place multipurpose (“ABC”) fire extinguishers in areas where fire risk is greatest, such as in the kitchen or furnace room and near the fireplace or wood stove. But be sure they’re out of reach of children. In an emergency, bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) can be used for putting out kitchen fires. Attempt to put out a fire
only
if it is small and contained (for example, in your oven [turn off the oven first], a frying pan, or a wastebasket), you have a way out if you don’t succeed in extinguishing the fire, you’ve already evacuated everyone else (or someone else is in the process of doing so), and someone has been instructed to call the fire department. If the fire begins to spread rather than abate, beat a hasty retreat.

Affix stickers (usually available from the local firehouse) on the windows of your children’s rooms so that firefighters can locate them quickly, if necessary.

Install escape ladders (various types are available, from simple rope ladders to permanently mounted fold-out ladders that look like drain spouts when closed) at selected upper windows to facilitate escape in a fire, and teach older children and adults how to use them. A couple of times a year, practice getting the entire family down. But install window guards or child-safe locks at the escape windows
to make sure children won’t be able to make an unsupervised game of “escape.”

Hold fire drills periodically so that everyone who lives or works in your household will know how to get out quickly and safely in an emergency and where outside to meet other family members, so that everyone can be accounted for and fire-fighters needn’t endanger their lives looking for those already evacuated. Assign each parent or other adult in the household the responsibility to evacuate a specific child (or children). Since fires can start in different areas, plan on more than one escape route from each room, when possible. Teach fire safety to family members, babysitters, nannies, housekeepers, and so on. Be sure everyone knows that it’s safer to crawl close to the ground than to walk while trying to escape a burning house (most fire-related deaths are due to suffocation or burns from exposure to hot fumes and smoke, rather than from direct flame) and that the priority is to evacuate the premises immediately, without worrying about dressing, tracking down pets, saving valuables, putting out the fire (the only exception would be a very well-contained fire, if the right kind of fire extinguisher is available—see the facing page for examples), or calling the fire department. The fire department should be called as soon as possible after any evacuation, from a street phone or a neighbor’s house. Do not reenter a burning building for any reason; leave that to the firefighters.