Children under the age of 5 are 2.5 times more likely to die from fire than any other childhood age group. The work described here is an empirical evaluation of a firesafety program for preschool children, involving 10 child-care facilities and 443 children ages 3 , 4 and 5 years. Children in six centers received an 18-week fire-safety training program called Kid Safe. Children in four other centers were assigned to the delayed-treatment condition and constituted the comparison group. All children were pretested using a comprehensive measure of fire-safety knowledge before the start of the study. The same test was readministered to all children following presentation of the program to the treatment group. At each of the three ages, children in the treatment group showed significantly greater knowledge gains from pretest to posttest than did children in the comparison group. Interestingly, 3-year-olds showed the greatest change of any age group. These findings provide support for the value of training preschool children in fire safety as an important strategy for injury prevention in this age group. 0 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Of fifteen major industrialized counties, the United States ranks second in the number of deaths, injuries, and dollar loss per capita attributable to fire. Data published by the National Fire Data Center (1993) reveal the following. In the United States, fire is responsible for approximately 5,500 deaths, 30,000 injuries, and billions of dollars in property damage every year. The vast majority of fire-related deaths occur in family residences, with the majority of these in one-and two-family dwellings. Although residential fires represented only 21% of the total number of fires from 1983 through 1987, they accounted for 75% of the deaths, 67% of the injuries, and 43% of the total dollar loss caused by fire.
Children, particularly young children, are among those most at risk for injury or death from fire. Relevant statistics are provided by the Children's Safety Network (1991). In 1988, fires and bums caused the greatest number of trauma deaths to toddlers and preschoolers. With respect to dying in a fire, children under the age of five have 2.5 times the relative risk of any other childhood age group. As children get older, the risk of death decreases; but the risk of suffering non-fatal, fire-related injuries increases, peaking at ages 15 to 19. In their task force report on pediatric psychology and injury control, cite data indicating that bums are the most frequent type of injury sustained by children between the ages of 1 and 4. They note that abatement of childhood injury rates requires investigations of both active (people engaging in preventive behaviors) and passive (structural) injury-control strategies. Such research concerning safety training, especially for children, is both a new and important focus for community psychology. What follows is Appreciation is expressed to Charles E. Smith, Director of Fire Services, Memphis, TN, for