The Fire-Safe Seniors Program helps you plan and implement fire safety interventions for the high-risk group of older adults. It can be used by organizations that serve seniors at the national, state or community level, such as fire departments, meal delivery programs, home companion groups, senior center associations and many other groups.
The program, sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Fire Administration, consists of these fire safety elements:
- Home assessments to determine the need for smoke alarms and identify any existing fire hazards in older adults' homes.
- Smoke alarm installation to ensure participants' homes are adequately equipped with working smoke alarms.
- Education to provide in-person fire safety messages and tips to older adults, their family members and caregivers.
- Follow-up to determine if alarms are still working; to assess any changes in the older adults' fire safety knowledge, attitudes and behaviors; and to see if any fires have occurred.
Toolkit
A toolkit is available to help you implement the program. It contains:
An implementation guide with helpful information for planning and running a comprehensive fire safety program for seniors.
3 different training curricula:
A 4-hour curriculum to train your staff or volunteers who will conduct home assessments and education, including an optional session on smoke alarm installation.
A 2-hour curriculum to train your staff or volunteers who will only conduct education.
Tools and handouts for conducting the home assessments, education, smoke alarm installations and process evaluation.
Tools
Education tool for discussing fire safety.
Home assessment tool for evaluating smoke alarms and escape barriers.
Educational messages clipboard sticker.
Educational messages pocket reminder card.
Smoke alarms refrigerator magnet.
“How to prevent fires in your home” flyer.
Smoke alarms and escape planning flyer.
Emergency numbers telephone sticker.
For more information about the Fire-Safe Seniors Program, please email FEMA-FireisEveryonesFight@fema.dhs.gov.
