Every year, nearly 500 kids under the age of 14 die in house fires. Yet only 26% of families have a fire escape plan that they have discussed with their kids. National PTA and Kidde, North America’s #1 fire safety brand*, have teamed up for Fire Safety Family Nights hosted in local communities across the country, with the goal of empowering families to make fire safety a priority—including having working smoke alarms and a written fire escape plan for their household.

CW Henry Elementary School, located in Philadelphia, Penn., held one of the fire safety events during October, which was National PTA Family & School Safety Month, as well as Fire Prevention Month.

“Family life can be so busy—it can be hard to find time to talk about fire safety with your children and plan for emergencies,” says CW Henry Elementary PTA President Kim Massare.

Did You Know? Children participate in regular fire drills during their K-12 experience, but only 26% of American families have developed an at-home escape plan.

The Evening’s Theme: Safety and Community

Despite the serious nature of the event, kid-friendly activities, delicious food, a community resource fair, raffles and giveaways—and the presence of the local fire department—all played a part in creating a successful, family-friendly evening.

“We were fortunate to have the fantastic members of [the] Philadelphia Fire Department join us and bring one of their very cool new fire trucks for show and tell,” said Massare. “It was a great opportunity for them to talk to families and children, and our PTA valued making that new connection as well.” 

In addition to donated smoke alarms from Kidde and a family fire escape plan template, members of the fire department offered to install the alarms for anyone in need of assistance.

At the event, families also learned about:

• How many smoke alarms they should have based on the size of their home.
• How often they should replace the smoke alarm’s batteries.
• How to plan an escape route from homes and multi-story apartment buildings.

It was wonderful to have members of the Philadelphia Fire Department join us for our Fire Safety Family night and connect with parents and kids—and bring their awesome truck, which they let the kids crawl all around in! CW Henry Elementary PTA President Kim Massare

Bilingual versions of emergency procedures were also provided—a key resource for non-English speaking families.

They also learned Kidde’s Cause for Alarm campaign jingle—“Beeps That Last, Get Out Fast”—to help kids easily remember what to do when they hear their smoke alarm at home.

The event was well-attended and full of positive energy.

“Our event made it fun and convenient for families to access important information and to also do so with friends and fellow caregivers,” said Massare.

Organizing a High-Impact Fire Safety Event in Your School

The CW Henry Elementary PTA’s event was successful because they thoughtfully planned their event with the support of National PTA. Below, the local PTA has provided key learnings to help other schools plan their own fire safety events.

1. Form a Strong Planning Committee

No significant school event is possible without cooperation and attention to detail. The PTA board at CW Henry Elementary identified strong team members with event planning experience to handle the fire safety event.

By playing to strengths and evenly distributing tasks—and designating backup planners to attend meetings if emergencies came up—no important details slipped through the cracks, and everyone was equally involved.

2. Offer a Mixture of Facts and Fun

While learning about important topics can be enough to drive attendance, having food and other fun draws like raffles always helps. Parents appreciate coming together for a community meal and not having to worry about getting dinner on the table before or after the event. Having kid-friendly activities also helps keep kids entertained throughout the event. 

3. Engage Community Partners

Based on the type of event, PTAs should consider inviting community partners to meet families and share information, including the public library, health organizations and others. CW Elementary invited the local fire department. When Brock Bridge Elementary School PTA in Laurel, Md., hosted a similar fire safety event, they invited U.S. Congressman Steny Hoyer.

4. Tap into National PTA

Local PTA organizers were grateful for the capacity-building support they received from National PTA, who provided detailed event materials and templates and funding to help cover food, marketing and other costs. Organizers worked with a PTA event planner to customize their event flow and had a chance to meet with the other organizers over Zoom.

Bringing Fire Safety to More PTA Communities

Be sure to share the Cause for Alarm Fire Safety Toolkit within your community, as it includes imperative fire safety information for all families.

Kidde is a Proud National PTA Sponsor. National PTA does not endorse any commercial entity, product or service. No endorsement is implied.

*Based on internal estimates of total household installations as of December 2023