Fire safety education programs
Last updated on September 12, 2024Fire safety education programs, campaigns, and events are a great opportunity for people to learn how to prevent fires, what to do if a fire starts, how to avoid injuries and how to stay safe. There are resources available to use in your community, school or home.
Fire and life safety messaging and toolkits
The fire and life safety messaging and toolkits are useful for educators when speaking about fire prevention topics, for sharing on social media, or for anyone who wants to learn more about staying safe from fire.
The What to do after a fire (PDF, 1.7MB) booklet can help take someone through the tasks they may need to do to put things back in order after a fire in their home. To facilitate sharing this resource at fire scenes, fire departments can print a one-page flyer (PDF, 129KB) with a QR code linking to the booklet. If you are a fire department or educational organization, this resource can also be ordered online.
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has created a variety of community toolkits to help public safety educators conduct successful community education campaigns. The toolkits cover heating, cooking, smoke alarms, escape planning, electrical, carbon monoxide alarms and emergency planning.
Fire safety education
Most fire incidents happen in the home and are preventable. The following safety messages, curricula, and resources can be used to teach communities, from children to older adults, the importance of fire safety.
Get to Know Fire
Get to Know Fire is the B.C. Office of the Fire Commissioner’s comprehensive home fire safety and burn prevention education program. It includes lessons for audiences ranging from preschool/kindergarten students to older adults.
The program engages and educates audiences in home fire prevention by providing specific, age-appropriate messaging and behaviours to stay safe. It provides integrated, quality teaching resources and lesson materials for instructors.
Get to Know Fire program materials can be used to enhance existing public education programs or as the foundation for communities developing new programs.
Learn Not to Burn
Learn Not to Burn® is a fire safety curriculum for use in schools developed by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). Learn Not to Burn has three lessons with classroom materials and activities: preschool, kindergarten, and level 1.
Each lesson is flexible so educators can teach it as a stand-alone fire safety unit or integrate it into language arts lessons.
The lessons are available for free download at NFPA’s Learn Not to Burn webpage
Sparky® the Fire Dog
Sparky® is an iconic symbol of fire safety and prevention with many resources and activities for children, parents and educators. Discover all that NFPA and Sparky® have to offer!
- For Kids: http://www.sparky.org/
- For Educators: https://sparkyschoolhouse.org/
Additional fire safety education programs
These free and downloadable resources will help you create, implement, and lead a successful fire safety education program:
- Fire Safety Program Toolkit developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Public Fire Education Planning: A Five-Step Process developed by the U.S. Fire Administration
Events and campaigns
Ready-made event and campaign toolkits are available online. Use these resources to host a fire prevention event in your community or classroom.
Fire Prevention Week
During Fire Prevention Week, firefighters, teachers, parents/guardians and safety educators use the resources offered by the Office of the Fire Commissioner to provide their communities with lifesaving information.
Carbon Monoxide Awareness
November 1 to 7 is Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week in B.C. The Office of the Fire Commissioner has created resources to make it easier for fire departments and educators to host a campaign in their community during Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week, or at any time of year.
Close Before You Doze
Closed doors can reduce fire growth, limit damage to a home, keep temperatures down, and save lives. The Close Before You Doze campaign includes free teaching and education resources to increase awareness in your community, school or home.
Fire Safe Smoke Alarm Campaign
Between 2018 and 2022, there was a 207 percent increase in fire-related deaths across B.C., according to the Office of the Fire Commissioner’s (OFC) annual report.
To reduce the number of fires in people's homes, the OFC has partnered with the BC Injury Research and Prevention Unit (BCIRPU) along with its social marketing partner, Preventable on a campaign to promote smoke alarm installation and testing.
Over the next few months, in selected communities identified through our Community Risk Reduction Dashboard, firefighters will come to people’s homes to check if a working smoke alarm is installed. If there is no smoke alarm, or if the smoke alarm is non-functional, firefighters will install one at no cost to the resident.
Read about the BCIRPU Smoke Alarm Campaign.
Contact Us
The Office of the Fire Commissioner (OFC) provides advice, guidance and support to members of the B.C. fire service. Working together, along with members of the public, we can reduce the number and severity of fires, and lead the way in making our province fire safe.
If you have any questions about fire safety education programs, contact us at ofc@gov.bc.ca.
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