‘Blame the Flame’ Christmas Campaign
Blame the Flame making a ‘bad choice’ by playing with matches
Say hello to Blame our mischievous flame.
Throughout December Blame is going to be getting up to all sorts of mischief with the aim of educating young people about the importance of fire safety and the part they can play in preventing accidents at home.
We would love for you to get involved.
From 7am on Thursday, 1 December, we will be posting each day about what Blame has been up to and it would be great if you could do any of the following to help spread the word about this important campaign:
Like, share or comment on our social media posts.
Parents and carers please show these posts to your children and tell them the importance of Blame’s actions.
Children are never too young to learn the importance of fire safety and by learning simple, yet effective prevention techniques at a young age means they are more likely to adapt these throughout their life.
You never know, you may learn a thing or two too.
The concept has been inspired by the Christmas tradition involving a elf who may or may not sit on a shelf – just to give you an idea of what is instore.
THURSDAY, 1 DECEMBER
Blame the Flame making a bad choice leaving toys on the stairs.
This is Blame our favourite flame
Blame loves playing with toys. Cars, trains, unicorns and dolls are their favourite – they can spend hours playing with their favourite toys.
Blame’s favourite place to play is the stairs and often, they leave toys on the stairs after playing with them. The toys often stay there overnight after Blame has gone to bed.
Sometimes, he stands on them when walking downstairs on a morning. Once he even slipped and fell down the stairs because of his toys – he almost broke his favourite super-fast car (and his leg!).
Do you think Blame made a good or bad choice when playing and leaving his toys on the stairs?
Why do you think that?
We think Blame made a bad choice.
Stairs in the home are often one of the main escape routes in the event of a fire. By placing anything on the stairs whether toys, post, clothes etc can block an escape route. They are also a tripping hazard and could cause injury and even delay leaving a building.
Our firefighters would ask Blame to put their toys away and make sure stairs are clear of all items on a night – will you do the same tonight before bed?
FRIDAY, 2 DECEMBER
Blame the Flame making a bad choice playing with matches
Blame our mischievous flame is visiting grandma’s today.
Grandma likes to light candles around the home – she thinks they make the rooms smell nice.
Blame thinks the candles look interesting and often wonders what they would feel like to touch.
Would you touch a candle if it was lit? How do you think it would feel?
Blame decides to touch the candle – it was very hot and it really hurt.
The candle has fallen on Grandma Flame’s favourite chair and Blame can smell burning – HELP!
Do you think Blame made a good or bad choice when they touched the candle?
We think Blame made a bad choice.
Candles are dangerous and should never be touched – they are very hot and could burn you.
If you knock a candle over they could start a fire so we would ask you to stay well away from them.
Some of you may have candles around the home at this time of year for religious reasons. This could be an advent candle counting down the days to Christmas for example – we understand this, and all we would ask you do to is encourage your grown-ups to read our candle safety information on our website.
SATURDAY, 3 DECEMBER
Blame the Flame making a bad choice by removing their seatbelt when in the car
Blame our favourite flame is off to visit a friend today.
They are sat in their car seat playing I-Spy but after a while Blame realises there isn’t much to see in cars. Blame is bored.
Blame starts playing with their seatbelt. The red button looks so tempting… Blame decides to press it.
Blame’s seatbelt comes off – Uh Oh!
Blame’s Mummy starts to worry as she is driving down a very busy road and can’t stop.
Blame thinks this is funny and starts to move around – he isn’t bored any more.
Do you think blame made a good or bad choice when looking for something fun to do?
We think he made a very bad choice.
Seatbelts are there to keep you safe and should always be warn in cars and other vehicles where they are fitted – you should NEVER remove your seatbelt until a grown-up tells you it is safe to do so.
Firefighters don’t just put out fires – they also attend serious collisions, some where the person wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and they know how important they are – ALWAYS wear your seatbelt.
SUNDAY, 4 DECEMBER
Blame the Flame making a bad choice by making a malicious (hoax) call
Blame our favourite flame is playing a game today.
You see Blame loves fire engines and dreams one day of becoming a firefighter.
At school Blame learned about firefighters and how to call 999 if he ever needed help.
Today Blame is bored and thinks it would be fun to dial 999 and pretend there is a fire at home, when there isn’t, so a fire engine will come to his house.
A fire engine did come to his house but the firefighters weren’t happy.
Do you think Blame made a good or bad choice when calling 999 and lying about a fire?
Why do you think the firefighters were unhappy with Blame?
We think Blame made a bad choice.
999 should only be called in an emergency and never because you are bored.
By calling 999 and lying about a fire you are blocking the phoneline and stopping someone who really needs our help getting through. Our fire engine and firefighters may have needed to put out a real fire.
However, Blame was very clever to know how to call 999 and ask for the fire service and this could be something you could practise with a pretend phone.
A tip for grown-ups who may be helping young children practise this – when a 999 call is made an operator will always ask which service and our Control Room answer all 999 calls with ‘Fire Service’
Please, please, please remember you will never get into trouble if you really did think there was a fire when you made the call, even if it has gone out by the time we arrive.
