Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service (DFRS) has partnered with Midlands-based smoke, heat and carbon monoxide (CO) manufacturer, FireAngel, to produce an innovative home fire safety jigsaw puzzle to engage over 14,000 school children as part of DFRS’s ongoing school fire safety education programme.
The bespoke jigsaw, which is the first of its kind in the UK, will be used by community safety officers to engage year six students at 400 schools across Derbyshire in a fun and interactive way. The puzzle encourages student participation in the sessions to help them understand and identify potential fire hazards within the home, whilst also encouraging discussion on the most appropriate positions to install smoke and CO alarms.
Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service has been delivering its schools education programme for over 15 years to year 2 and year 6 children, focusing on increasing awareness and education of how fires in the home can be prevented, including the importance of installing working smoke alarms and making a fire plan.
In 2021/22 Derbyshire Firefighters attended 377 accidental dwelling fires, underlining the need to continue raising awareness in young children about home fire safety.
The jigsaw was scheduled to be launched at a school in Smalley on Thursday 14th July with a short activity to help identify the three main elements required for a fire to develop, followed by a 15 minute quiz on fire safety, before the puzzle itself is given out to complete, followed by a demonstration of a smoke alarm and the differences between a smoke detector and a fire alarm, and then an overview of the consequences of hoax calls, arson and playing with fire, including a chance to hear the audio from a recording of a hoax call.