Describe the two ways out of your bedroom.Fact: the US Fire Administration says to find 2 ways out of every room.
Explain in your own words why nobody goes back inside for a toy or a phone.Fact: once you are out, stay out. Do not go back inside for anything.
Explain, as you would to a younger child, what a closed door does in a fire.Fact: a closed door may slow the spread of smoke, heat and fire.
Go outside with a grown-up and write whether your house number can be read from the road.Fact: firefighters need to find the home, so the number should be easy to see.
Walk through your home with a grown-up and write down anything that blocks a door or a window.Fact: the doors and windows on the plan must not be blocked.
Write a letter asking the grown-ups at home to practice the fire drill with you this week.Fact: the National Fire Protection Association says to practice the plan twice a year.
Write a note to tape inside your bedroom door that says what to do when the smoke alarm sounds.Fact: stay low, get to your exit, go to the meeting place and stay outside.
Write a paragraph about your family's outside meeting place and why you chose it.Fact: it is outside, in front of the home: a mailbox, a light post, a neighbor's house.
Write a reminder for the family calendar about testing the smoke alarms.Fact: alarms are tested every month by pressing the test button.
Write down the fire department's emergency number and three places in your home to post it.Fact: everyone in the home should know that number by heart.
Write the escape plan for your home as a list of steps a visitor could follow.Fact: a plan starts with a map of the home that shows every door and window.
Write the instructions for a home fire drill, from the test button to the meeting place.Fact: push the alarm's test button to start the drill, then get outside to the meeting place.
Write what you would tell a friend who is sleeping over about your family's plan.Fact: tell guests about the plan, and ask about theirs when you stay at their home.
Write where the smoke alarms are in your home, room by room.Fact: they belong in every bedroom, outside each sleeping area and on every level.
Write who helps whom in your family's plan: the baby, a grandparent, anyone who needs a hand.Fact: a plan names someone to help each person who cannot get out alone.
Firefighters and their work 14
A firefighter visits a class and a small child is afraid of the mask; write what the firefighter does.Angle: the mask comes off, goes on again slowly, and the voice stays the same.
Describe a firefighter's coat, helmet and boots to someone who has never seen them.Angle: start with the colors, then say what you think each part is for.
Fire Prevention Week is the week of October 9; write an invitation asking firefighters to visit that week.Fact: the week runs from the Sunday to the Saturday that holds October 9.
List everything you can see on a fire engine and write what you think each thing is for.Angle: ladders, hoses, lights, a radio. Ask a firefighter which guess was wrong.
Write a day at the fire station when no call comes in.Angle: what gets cleaned, checked, cooked and practiced.
Write a poem about a fire hydrant waiting on a corner.Angle: it has one job and almost never does it. Let it be patient.
Write a thank-you letter to your local fire station.First line: You have never met me, but I have heard you go past.
Write about a firefighter cooking dinner for the whole crew.First line: Tonight it was her turn, and she had a plan that involved onions.
Write about the person who answers the emergency phone and stays calm for everyone.Angle: a scene. The caller talks fast. The answers come slowly and clearly.
Write five questions you would ask a firefighter who visits your class.Angle: ask about the ordinary days as well as the loud ones.
Write the first ten seconds of an alarm at the station, told by the fire engine.First line: I was asleep too, in my way.
Write the speech you would give if a firefighter came to your school to be thanked.Angle: three sentences, and one of them names what they did.
Write what makes a good firefighter: three things the person must be good at and one they must not mind.Angle: think past bravery. Who checks the hoses, and who reads the map?
Write what the station dog thinks of the siren.Angle: funny. The dog has opinions about the boots as well.
A story where the plan works 15
A boy closes his bedroom door on the way out; write what a firefighter tells him afterward.Fact: closing doors on your way out slows the spread of fire.
A boy feels his bedroom door and it is hot; write how he uses his other way out.Fact: feel a door before you open it. If it is hot, use your other exit.
A child finds a lighter on the sidewalk; write what she does and who she tells.Fact: never touch matches or lighters. If you find them, tell an adult.
A child's map of the home hangs on the refrigerator; write the night the family follows it.Angle: every arrow she drew gets used by someone.
A girl is the only one who remembers the meeting place and has to remind the grown-ups; write it.First line: The big tree, she said. We said the big tree.
A grandfather who walks slowly has a helper in the plan; write the night the helper does the job.Fact: a plan names someone to help, and a backup in case that person is not home.
The alarm goes off because of burnt toast, and the family goes outside anyway; write the morning.Fact: when a smoke alarm sounds, get out. Let them be proud at the meeting place in pajamas.
The alarm sounds during a sleepover, and the guest knows the plan because the family told her; write her night.Angle: she had thought the talk at dinner was boring.
Everyone is at the mailbox except the cat; write how the family waits and what they tell the firefighters.Fact: nobody goes back inside for anything. Firefighters have the skills and equipment for rescues.
Everyone is out, and a neighbor's phone is used to call for help; write the call.Fact: the call is made from a neighbor's home or a cell phone once everyone is safely outside.
The smoke alarm sounds at night and a family does what they practiced; write it from the alarm to the meeting place.Fact: the steps are stay low, get to your exit, go to the meeting place, stay outside.
Two sisters smell smoke and stay low all the way to their exit; write it from floor level.Fact: stay low and get to your exit if you smell or see smoke.
Write a story in which a family drill goes so badly it is funny, and the second try goes right.Angle: someone goes to the wrong tree. Someone stops for shoes. Then they try again.
Write the story from the point of view of a smoke alarm that was tested last Saturday.Angle: it worked because somebody pressed the button once a month.
Write what a family talks about at the meeting place while they wait.Angle: who counted heads, what was left behind, and why nobody went back for it.
A poster line to write 15
Write a caption for a drawing of a family standing at their meeting place.Angle: say where they are and why they are smiling.
Write a headline for a class newspaper story about Fire Prevention Week.Angle: a headline says who did what. Keep it under ten words.
Write a kitchen line for a grown-up who cooks about standing by the pan.Fact behind it: if you leave the kitchen, turn the burner off.
Write a line about staying low under smoke that a five-year-old could read.Angle: short words only. Try it out loud on someone small.
Write a line for a kitchen poster about pot handles.Fact behind it: turn pot handles toward the back of the stove.
Write a line for a poster that reminds families to practice the drill.Fact behind it: practice the home fire drill with everyone in the home.
Write a poster line about the 3 feet of space around anything hot.Fact behind it: children stay 3 feet away from stoves, heaters and anything that gets hot.
Write a poster line of six words or fewer about knowing two ways out.Angle: count the words on your fingers. A door and a window make two.
Write a poster line that tells people to stay outside once they are out.Angle: say it the way you would call it across a yard.
Write a rhyme of two lines about testing the smoke alarm.Fact behind it: test every smoke alarm once a month.
Write a slogan about matches and lighters that starts with the word Tell.Fact behind it: if you find matches or lighters, tell an adult.
Write a slogan about smoke alarms on every level of a home.Fact behind it: put alarms on every level and in every bedroom.
Write a slogan for the outside meeting place.Angle: name a real kind of spot, such as a mailbox or a light post.
Write an acrostic on the word ALARM in which every line is something true.Fact to use: smoke alarms do not last forever. Get new ones every 10 years.
Write three words for a door hanger about what a closed door does in a fire.Angle: a hanger is small. Choose three words a sleepy person would still read.
How it works
These fire prevention writing prompts have a child put the home escape plan into their own words, or tell a story in which the plan works. Each safety fact is the US Fire Administration's or the National Fire Protection Association's.
Read the full guide
Fire safety writing prompts that start at home
Fifteen ask for the plan itself: the two ways out of a bedroom, the meeting place in front of the home, the steps of a drill. Writing it down shows what is missing, so this group is best done beside a grown-up who can fix it.
Stories where the plan works
In the fifteen stories nobody is hurt. A boy feels a hot door and uses his other exit. A family stands at the meeting place in pajamas because of burnt toast. The fact under a story is the step it turns on.
Read the fact line first. It is the part of the story that cannot change.
A poster line is finished when it still makes sense from across the room.
Questions and answers
What is a good fire safety writing prompt?
One a child can check against their own home. Describe the two ways out of your bedroom. Write where the smoke alarms are, room by room. Write the note that goes inside your door.
When is Fire Prevention Week?
It runs from the Sunday to the Saturday that holds October 9, every year, in the United States and Canada.
Is a fire prevention writing prompt the same as fire safety training?
No. This is a list of things to write. The safety facts say what the two fire safety bodies named under the list say, but a real escape plan is made and practiced at home with an adult.
What can children write for a fire prevention poster?
A line short enough to read from across a room. Fifteen prompts ask for one: a slogan for the meeting place, a rhyme about testing the smoke alarm, three words for a door hanger.