Fire Prevention & Safety

Working with businesses, and different groups within the city, Temple Fire and Rescue personnel educate participants on proper selection and use of fire extinguishers. After the instruction portion of the class, participants will use an appropriate extinguisher to put out a small Class A or Class B fire in a controlled environment. 

The Fire Safety House is a mobile trailer unit, able to be set up to educate the public on fire safety in the home. Demonstrations include items acquired at fires that resulted in damage or property loss; such as pans from unattended cooking fires and overloaded extension cords. The trailer can also be set up to educate the public on severe weather safety. 

Set up as an obstacle course, the Fire Safety Challenge includes education on getting out of your house in the event of a fire. Stages include getting low and crawling below the “smoke” and dragging a child manikin to safety. They then move to climbing to the top of our inflatable double-slide, where they must choose their “way out”. This represents always having 2-ways out of every room in your home. The challenge ends when they exit the slide and ring the bell on a carnival style high striker. 

Working with Texas A&M AgriLife and other organizations, we bring several of our educational platforms such as the Rollover Convincer, the Fire Safety House, etc. to the Bell County Expo Center. We education youth from various schools, as they arrive and make rounds to each station. 

This event is held the first Saturday in October at Central Fire Station, located at 210 N 3rd Street. The public is invited out to participate in multiple stations and demonstrations to learn about fire safety. During this event we also present awards and recognize achievements for department members and the citizens of Temple. 

Observed each year during the week of October 9th in commemoration of the Great Chicago Fire which began on Oct 8th, 1871. The fire burned for 3 days and killed approximately 300 people. Temple Fire and Rescue uses this to kick off visits to approximately 40-50 schools and daycares during the month of October, giving us a chance to provide information to numerous families on fire safety. 

Serving Up Safety in the Kitchen 

Why cooking safety matters: 

• Cooking is the #1 cause of home fires and home fire injuries.
• Unattended cooking is the leading cause of fires in the kitchen.
• Scald burns are the second leading cause of all burn injuries. Hot liquids from coffee and even microwaved soup can cause devastating injuries.

RESOURCES AND ACTIVITIES 

Family Cooking Safety Checklist (Printable PDF from NFPA) 

Kid-Free Zone Marker Activity (Printable PDF from NFPA)

Fire Safety Checklist for Caregivers of Older Adults (Printable PDF from NFPA)

Online Games & Activities- NFPA Kids

Printable Activities- NFPA Kids 

Children from local elementary schools are invited to submit a poster, depicting the current year’s theme for Fire Prevention Week. The posters are judged by firefighters at Central Station with the winners announced at our Fire Safety Day and Open House. 

Smoke alarm installs occur 2 ways; citizens can request a safety assessment and a pair of working smoke alarms to be installed in their home by Temple Fire & Rescue, and occasionally Temple Fire & Rescue will work with groups such as Temple Rotary to canvas an area going door to door in neighborhoods that have been affected by fire to offer installs.