Safe Kids and firefighters deliver fire prevention – and pizza

Don’t be alarmed if when you’re home next Thursday evening, Oct. 22, you hear the blare of fire truck sirens and see flashing red lights in your neighborhood. Firefighters may be responding to a call – or they may be delivering a pizza!

That’s because local fire fighters, pizza restaurants, Safe Kids Southeast Wisconsin Coalition, Safe Kids Wisconsin Coalition and State Farm Insurance are teaming up for the eighth annual “Delivering Fire Prevention” event. It’s a program designed to bring fire prevention education to local families in a fun and original way.

To find out if your community is participating, check out BlueKids.org/SafeKidsWI. If the fire department delivers your pizza and you have working smoke detectors, you’ll get a free pizza! If you have a smoke detector that isn’t working you will receive a free smoke detector. We even have a limited number of carbon monoxide detectors to give away. Everyone will receive fire prevention education materials from Safe Kids and a great experience.

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Fire pits and ‘staycations’ keep kids’ burns on the rise

Long summer nights, fireflies, s’mores and outdoor fire pits. Who doesn’t enjoy these memorable signs of summer? Unfortunately, these joys of summer bring many potential accidents.

Campfires are the leading cause of children’s camping injuries, with burns accounting for 74 percent of injuries. Half of the children admitted to hospitals with burns are younger than 4.

As more families are having ‘staycations’ – spending their time off at home instead of going away on vacation – I’ve seen a rise in the number of fire pit-related burns. Kids are showing up at the emergency room and burn clinic in alarming numbers after falling into fire pits, touching metal lids of fire pits, inhaling smoke and flames, and burning feet and toes stepping on embers.

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