Spokane Fire Department Public Education

Fire Stoppers: Kids and Fire are a Dangerous Combination

Across the country, children are responsible for about 100,000 reported fires, 300 deaths and $300 million in property damage each year.

It’s important for the whole community...parents, teachers, firefighters, mental health professionals, juvenile justice workers, and neighbors to be alert to the early warning signs of child fire-play or child fire-setting. Experimentation with matches and lighters is NOT  “just a phase” that kids will outgrow!

The younger the child, the bigger the fire. Preschoolers often will hide from the fire they started from curiosity. Spokane Fire Department has a lending library of fire safety lessons for preschool providers. Parents and babysitters need to closely supervise preschoolers and to keep matches and lighters “out of sight and out of reach”.

The most common child fire-setter is a boy between the ages of seven and nine. In fact, nine to one, boys are more likely to play with fire-setting than girls. Most children do NOT comprehend the destructive power of one match or lighter. Parents and teachers need to frequently reinforce basic fire safety expectations as well as provide opportunity for children to learn age-appropriate information about the uses of fire in our society.

More children between the ages of ten and thirteen are experimenting with flammable materials. They may view reckless fire tricks on television or observe adults misusing gasoline before trying the same “trick” themselves. Hundreds of children are burned each year in the U.S. because of experiments with flammables that backfire.

If you know a child between the ages of three and thirteen who has demonstrated an interest in using fire, call FIRE-STOPPERS at (509) 625-7058 to determine whether it may be helpful to set up an interview and education session at the Spokane Fire Department Station #1, located 44 W. Riverside Ave in Spokane, WA.

Without intervention, there is an 80% chance that a child who has started one fire will start another within the year.

For additional information on children using fire, please call the Spokane Fire Department's Education Specialist at (509) 625-7058. We can also help with lending libraries and classroom presentations (child through adult) on various aspects of child fire-setting prevention.
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CPR Class Offerings

Click the below link to connect you to the City of Spokane's Event Calendar to list CPR Class offerings by month along with other City classes. The calendar will open with the classes offerings for today. Choose the month for which you are interested in taking a CPR class. Then click the "Classes" option. A list of all City Classes for the month, including CPR classes, will be listed. If you need more information, please call (509) 625-7061.

All classes start at 7 PM and run until completed, approx. 10PM

Spokane Fire Department CPR Class Listings

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