Fire & Safety House
This traveling interactive exhibit has been presented at schools, Alaska State and county fairs, community health fairs, and other special events since 1998. The exhibit offers the following activities:
- Fire & Safety House – A 10x30-foot trailer simulates the kitchen and bedroom of a home. Trained volunteers take groups of up to a dozen children and adults through it. As artificial smoke is pumped first into the kitchen, then the bedroom, those inside are shown kitchen safety precautions and fire response procedures, what to do when hearing a smoke alarm at night, and how to use a safety escape ladder. After descending the ladder, children go to the “neighbor’s house” (a nearby tent) to report the fire in a simulated 911 exercise.
- Junior Firefighter’s Combat Challenge – Participants carry a rolled fire hose the length of a 100-foot course, return carrying a 20-pound “victim,” drag a hose down the course again, then simulate chopping through a roof on a force machine. This competitive event is a small version of the National Firefighter’s Combat Challenge.
- Wheel of Safety – Children spin a wheel that comes to rest on a particular safety topic. They answer a question about it and either receive a small prize or are taught the correct answer and safe behavior.
History of Construction
Denali Safety Council built the Fire & Safety House in 1998 by renovating a used 10x30-foot construction trailer with contributions of money, services, and materials from more than 40 businesses and with 2,000 volunteer labor hours. Corporate contributions received in years since have allowed us to:
- Purchase a used 48-foot flatbed trailer, remove failing wheels and axles from the house, and permanently install it on the trailer. The Fire & Safety House can be pulled safely on Alaska’s roadways by a commercial tractor.
- Install a permanent wheelchair lift in the house, giving access to our training for even those unable to climb stairs.
- Build a new Wheel of Safety, build a new fire safety “victim” for the Combat Challenge Course, and purchase a portable “easy-up” canvas tent to use as the “neighbor’s house” on our school visits.
your “nose at night.”
The Fire & Safety House is used to provide hands-on “see it, touch it, smell it, do it” injury prevention education all over Alaska. This training emphasizes positive safety behaviors – what should be done as opposed to what should not. This is extremely beneficial to children, who learn safety precautions and proper behavior in emergencies, and to parents, who see demonstrated the correct methods of teaching and reinforcing these behaviors. More than 19,000 people have visited the Fire & Safety House since our first year at the Alaska State Fair in 1995.
Current Status: A New Home for the Fire & Safety House
members of the press listen as Vicki Swanson
explains how the Fire & Safety House is used
for training.
The Fire & Safety House is now located in Homer, Alaska. Denali Safety Council presented it to the Fire Chief, Mayor, and City Manager of Homer on May 30, 2007 where it will be used to teach safety to schoolchildren in the surrounding area. The crew of the Homer Volunteer Fire Department attended an orientation to learn how to set up for a training session, what to teach, and how to put everything away when finished. We are pleased that the Fire & Safety House is back in use once again.
