fire drill

[zoeuk1]

i was wondering how often the childminders here have a fire drill. do you take it very seriously or do you make it into a game type thing? also, would someone from the local fire station be willing to visit a childminders home to identify any fire risks/talk to the children about fire safety etc?

i had a fireman come to my house he checked my smoke alarms and we talked about my fire escape both as a cm and a family

i do a fire drill about every 3 mths or so mostly with the older children its sort of a game but they know they have to be sensible.
last time they wanted me to pratice the upstairs fire escape and were wanting to absail out of bedroom window

also in the school hols we arrange a visit to the local firestation and the children were shown round and got to use the hose and sit in the engine
afterwards they gave us colourings and puzzles to do
thay loved it

I do a fire drill about every 2 months, trying to pick a different day everytime so that all mindees all get to have a go regularly.
I just get a long stick and press the test button on the smoke detector and say if the fire alarm makes this sound there may be a fire and we must stop what we are doing and all children must move to the room I tell them and go outside through whichever door I tell them, we then have an assembly point we go to.

If you have any concerns just ring your local fire station and tell them you are a childminder and that you would like a home visit for some advice and they will also check that your smoke detectors are in the correct places and fit some more if they are not. Also there should be a course in your training directory for fire safety.

Forgot to add don't forget to log date fire drill carried out and which children were in your care at the time.

ok. thanks for that.