- FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY
NFPA’s educational philosophy is to teach proactive, quick response to
fires for all ages. These decals could give you and your family a
false sense of security and may imply to children that it is safe to
wait to be rescued, rather than respond immediately on their own.
- EDUCATION IS KEY
Even at a very young age, children can be taught the basics of home
escape planning: responding immediately when the smoke alarms sound,
knowing two ways out of every room, crawling low under smoke,
gathering at a meeting place, and calling the fire department from
outside the burning building.
The window decals signal an area of vulnerability in the home, which
could put children or the entire household at risk from intruders.
- SAFETY FOR FIREFIGHTERS
The NFPA is concerned about the safety of firefighters who may enter a
bedroom with a decal on the window to search for trapped children,
only to learn that the children have changed rooms, grown up or moved
- SAFETY FOR OTHERS
Rescue is the foremost concern of firefighters. They are trained to
make a thorough and systematic search for anyone inside a burning
building. Critical time could be lost in looking for windows marked
with decals, with no assurance anyone would be in that room.
WHAT TO DO
||REMOVE ALL STICKERS
Remove them and take a proactive approach to your family’s safety.
||PRACTICE FIRE ESCAPE PLANS
Practice your escape plan throughout the year, until you are confident
your children have the information and skills they need to make smart
decisions in an emergency
||IN CASE OF FIRE
Alert any emergency worker of the situation. Tell them who is
accounted for and who is not. If anyone is missing, tell them where
their bedroom is, and the planned route out of the building. The more
information to us, the easier it will be to find them