October 5-11, 2008 is Fire Safety Week.  The theme this year is Prevent Home Fires.

Newfoundlander Michael Gaultois, who is a burn victim, was the guest speaker at the official launch of Fire Prevention Week in Ottawa on October 2nd.  Children's recording artisit Mary Lambert was also in attendance to preform Sing Out Fire Safety , a compilation of original songs she put together and are available from her site.

Local fire departments may have activities planned during the week so be sure to watch for them or contact you local departmen for information. 

The National Fire Protection Association is promoting a Great American Fire Drill "asking kids and families all across North America to practice their home fire escape plans."  If you do the drill you can report it on Sparky's special Fire Drill Reporting Page.

From the National Fire Protection Association, here is a quiz for grownups and older children to check how much you know about home fire safety.  The National Fire Protection Association also has a section on YouTube that is full of videos about fire safety.

At Fire Prevention Canada you can find information about the history of fire prevention week and a Fire Prevention Week Kit that you can download.  This kit is actually meant for fire departments to use in planning activities for Fire Prevention Week but parents can also use the information about fire safety and printable sheets for kids that are included in the kit.

Scholastic has a special National Fire Prevention Week section that is full of great stuff!   There's a Fire Safety Tips slideshow, a Hunt for Home Hazards online game using the white house as the sample but it can apply to any house, a Help Sparky Get Out and Stay Out online game, and an online tool to help build an escape plan.  There are also lesson plans, printables, and quizzes especially for grade k-5 available on the site.

Sparky the Fire Dog's site is also full of great great stuff.  There's a special Fire Trucks section which includes a Fire Truck Gallery of photos of different kinds of fire trucks and alarms for you to click on to hear what they sound like, a Get Out of the Way game where you have to push the space bar to blow the horn and the arrow keys to move the firetruck, and an explore Sparky's Fire Truck section where you click on parts of the truck and boxes come up with information about it.  There's a special Fire Inspection Checklist  and a Home Fire Safety Checklist  that you can print off and allow your child to use to be an offical safety inspector for your house.  On the Family Stuff page there's a step by step guide to home fire safety planning and practice, a Hunt for Home Hazards article ,  Sparky's Fire Safety Tips, and coloring pages.  Those are just some of the great things on Sparky's site.

Have fun exploring and learning.  If you decide to do something special to celebrate Fire Safety Week, I'd love to hear about it.