The Rapid City Fire Department teaches age-appropriate safety lessons in each elementary class. Below are disucssion ideas and videos to enhance our lessons.We can teach in-person or on-line. Request a class by completing the form below.
Click here to view videos and activities we generally use in our children safety presentations! bit.ly/RCFD-kidvideos
This link is for youth and adults and covers how to prevent cooking fires, the #1 cause of fire in Rapid City. bit.ly/RCFD-kitchen
Learn more about fire safety here.
Preschool
We learned:
For more, check out videos about things that are hot, cold, and sometimes hot as well as story apps and games at http://sparkyschoolhouse.org/#music-section.
We learned:
We watched this video: https://youtu.be/8OVHhkqpZf8
We learned:
We watched: https://youtu.be/w2r2qTAgUFM
For more, check out: NFPA escape planning at http://www.nfpa.org/escapeplan
We learned:
We watched: Fire sprinklers and speed of fire at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNfQFL96H9c and a cooking fire story on WMAR at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0RgdYkc_Po.
For more, check out: NFPA fire safety for people with disabilities: http://www.nfpa.org/public-education/by-topic/people-at-risk/people-with-disabilities
We learned:
We watched: Speed of fire and sprinklers at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNfQFL96H9c, Fire sprinkler animation at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMNv7EOcFg4, Fire Extinguishers on ABC News at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw4uIiXUCY4, Cooking fire story on WMAR at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0RgdYkc_Po
For more, check out: NFPA safety information http://www.nfpa.org/public-education and select topic of interest.
Volunteer – Volunteer to teach with the fire department as we visit classrooms, businesses, and community groups.
Children – Find fire safety lessons and resources for classrooms, homeschool, daycare, and preschool.
Businesses – Find fire safety lessons for your business safety class including evacuation and fire extinguisher use.
Volunteer
We need volunteers to help us reach more people. We provide training. We need people to teach classes; update presentation materials including video, graphics, and Prezi; manage projects; write grants; and post on Facebook and other social media. Our volunteers are under the National Fire Corps umbrella. If interested, please contact 605-394-5233.
Children & Youth
We recommend the lesson plans, videos, stories, apps, and games at http://sparkyschoolhouse.org/. Most of the lessons we use in schools can be found there plus much, much more. A fun and educational website for younger children is http://www.sparky.org/.
From September to December we offer fire safety and injury prevention classes to every elementary class, public and private, in Rapid City and the Rapid City Area School District.
Workplace
We can teach a class at your businesses, hold a webinar for your employees, or you may prefer to use the online resources recommended below.
Our basic workplace presentation is embedded below.
You can also view the Prezi at http://prezi.com/07k7pfrmibsu/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share.
Fire Extinguisher 2 minute overview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLjoWjCrDqg
Fire Extinguisher news report: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw4uIiXUCY4
This YouTube video made by Austin Community College covers many evacuation concerns: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqwPyPlCOQk. Your place of business may have different needs and evacuation capabilities. For example, few buildings have areas of refuge in Rapid City but some have elevators that are used for evacuation during fires.
Cooking is the leading cause of fire in Rapid City. The good news is it is easy to prevent and keep from spreading.
Keep an Eye on What You Fry
Unattended cooking is the leading cause of home cooking fires. Stay in the kitchen when frying, grilling, or broiling food. If you must leave, even for a second, turn off the stove.
Select a stove with temperature limiting control technology burners such as induction technology or SmartBurner ™. These keep a fire from starting on your stove. Learn more here. You can also install knobs that use timers and/or motion sensors to prevent many fires. Learn more here.
If a fire starts, leave your home and call 911. If you have fire sprinklers, they will put out the fire.
If you do not have fire sprinklers, the fire is small, and everyone is escaping, then put on an oven mitt and slide a lid or cookie sheet over the pan, and turn off the heat. A fire extinguisher may work. Do not move the pan or the lid until the pan is cool enough to touch with your bare hand.
It is important that everyone know two ways out of the house. It is more important to have a plan on how you can help everyone be safe. Until about age ten, children will often need help during such a scary and stressful event as a fire. Plans need to be made to protect those who may not wake to the alarm or who cannot get out on their own.
pdf
Download a family home escape plan here.
(876 KB)
Learn more, including what to do if you live in a dorm or tall building.
1. When you hear the sound of the alarm, stop what you are doing and walk outside,
2. Know two ways out of every room,
3. Get outside quickly, and
4. Wait at your Outside Meeting Place.
A good meeting place is in front of the home, a little distance from the building. Sidewalks, trees, and mailboxes are common Outside Meeting Places. Have only ONE Outside Meeting Place that everyone can find. If you exit far from the meeting place, walk until you reach the meeting place.
If you are unable to get outside, stay away from the smoke and heat. Find a place with as many closed doors and walls between you and the fire. Once you have found a room without smoke or heat, close the door and always keep it closed. Call 9-1-1 if you can. Signal from a closed window if you can. Fire fighters will search the inside of every room when they arrive and move you to safety.
Fire is so fast we no longer teach the steps of staying low under the smoke or feeling the door. They are still good things to do but they don't work every time. A warm door indicates danger but opening a cool door can result death as the fire pulls oxygen out and pushes poisons in. The heat of the smoke forces most people to the floor. Near flashover, the flooring produces poisons. The process of feeling the door can make learning how to escape complicated. It is better to focus on preventing fires; install fire sprinklers; have interconnected, working smoke alarms; be able to make a quick escape; have a meeting place; and know how to create a safe place inside to wait for help.
Working smoke alarms that will wake you are important. Install smoke alarms in every sleeping room, outside each separate sleeping area, and on every level of the home, including the basement. Larger homes may require additional smoke alarms to provide a minimum level of protection.
Interconnect all smoke alarms throughout the home for the best protection. When one sounds, they all sound. Make sure you can hear the sound of the smoke alarm.
Replace all smoke alarms when they are 10 years old. Replace any smoke alarm that does not respond after a new battery has been installed. Replace combination smoke-carbon monoxide alarms according to the maufacturer's recommendations.
Smoke alarms with nonreplaceable (long-life) batteries are designed to remain effective for up to 10 years. If the alarm chirps, warning that the batter is low, replace the entire smoke alarm right away.
For smoke alarms that don't have nonreplaceable or long-life batteries, replace batteries once a year. If the alarm chirps, replace the battery immediately.
Alarms are available for people who are deaf, people with significant hearing loss, people who use hearing aids but not when they sleep, and people who do not wake to the sound of a traditional smoke alarm.
When people who are deaf or people who use hearing aids are asleep, a pillow or bed shaker should be used. When people who are hard of hearing are asleep, a loud, mixed, low-pitched sound alert should be used. A pillow or bedshaker is a good idea. These devices are activated by the sound of the standard smoke alarm.
Fire is useful but uncontrolled it is dangerous and fast. It is so fast that the fire department cannot always get to the fire in time. We need everyone’s help to prevent and control fire. Help us by taking action to prevent fires. Know how to survive a fire. Volunteer to teach others to be safe with fire.
Volunteer
We need volunteers to help us reach more people. We provide training. We need people to teach classes; update presentation materials including video, graphics, and Prezi; manage projects; write grants; and post on Facebook and other social media. Our volunteers are under the National Fire Corps umbrella. If interested, please contact 605-394-5233.
Learn more about fire safety.
Cooking is the leading cause of fire in Rapid City. The good news is it is easy to prevent a cooking fire and keep fires small once they’ve begun. Click the heading above to learn more.
Home fire sprinklers are the single most effective means to prevent death and injury from a fire. Sprinklers are especially important for those who cannot escape without assistance, those who may not hear the alarm when sleeping, and those with synthetic furnishings in their home. Click the heading above to learn more.
Find fire safety lessons and resources for classrooms, homeschool, daycare, and preschool. Find business fire safety resources. Volunteer with us! Click the heading above to learn more.
While curiosity is a childhood trait, most youth do not play with fire and put themselves and those around them at risk. We can help you turn this curiosity away from dangerous fire-related behaviors. Click the heading above to learn more.
Working smoke alarms that will wake you are important. Alarms should be installed on every level of the home, outside every sleeping area, and in every bedroom. For earliest notification, alarms should be connected so that when one sounds they all sound. Click the heading above to learn more.
Make sure everyone knows what to do when the alarm sounds and plan for those that will probably not escape on their own. Click the heading above to learn more.
Schedule a presentation
The Fire and Life Safety Division provides targeted education to improve the safety of our community. Our efforts aim to address the most common causes of fire, the most effective means of preventing fires and fire-related injuries, especially for those at highest risk of a fire-related injury.
To schedule a presentation about sprinklers, smoke alarms, escape, preventing cooking fires, older adult fire & fall prevention, or to schedule a safety class at your school, contact 605-394-5233.
If you are interested in other presentations about the fire department or would like to partner on initiatives other than those listed, please call 605-394-4180 to be directed to the correct division.