“Since our creation of the Survive Alive House, fire fatalities in our target age group have dropped.”

Every school has a fire escape plan and fire drills once a month, but many people don’t have escape plans at home. Not only has Fire Lt. Carlos Velázquez Sánchez been serving as a firefighter for Milwaukee the last 15 years, but he’s also director of the Survive Alive House. Sánchez believes that learning fire safety measures from a young age is essential to ensure that families know what to do in case of a fire emergency, and most important, how to survive it.

Cameron Knoll: Why was the Survive Alive House created?

Lt. Carlos Velázquez Sánchez: Between 1987 and 1991, 68 children lost their lives to fires. In 1992, we founded the Survive Alive House so that school-age children will learn how to safely escape from a burning house. Since our creation of the Survive Alive House, fire fatalities in our target age group have dropped significantly. Every second and fifth grader in the Milwaukee Public Schools system has the opportunity to come here with their class and learn how to evacuate their house if it were to start on fire.

Q: What do you teach kids here?

A: One of the first things we go over is the importance of having working smoke alarms in their homes. We teach kids how often batteries in the smoke alarms should be checked and where they should be placed around their home. We also teach kids how to get out of a burning house and how to have an escape plan. We have kids draw blueprint-like layouts of their home so they can determine two ways to escape out of each room. Once they figure out escape plans, the kids choose a meeting place for their family.

Q: Why is it important for families to have a meeting place in the event of a fire?

A: A lot of times, families without a fire meeting place end up going to different places once they escape, which creates confusion. Somebody goes to the front of the house, somebody goes to the neighbor’s house and so on. Once the fire department arrives and we ask, “Is everybody out?”, they don’t have an answer because everyone split up. Us firefighters may end up searching for a family member or pet in the burning house when in reality, they may have already escaped. It’s very important to have a meeting place and practice going to it at least twice a year.

Q: Once kids enter the Survive Alive House fire escape simulation, what can they expect to practice?

A: Once kids go into the simulation house, they practice the steps they learned on how to escape a burning house. They roll out of bed to avoid smoke inhalation and crawl to the closed door of their room. Once they get to the door, they touch it with the back of their hand to check if there’s heat. If the door is cool to the touch, they can exit the room, close the door behind them, go to the meeting place and call 9-1-1. If the door is warm, then they try to escape through the window. Some houses have escape ladders, but if they are on a higher level and they can’t escape, then they start throwing plushies or blankets out the window so that once firefighters arrive, they can see that there is somebody still trapped in the house.

Q: Why is it important for kids to visit the Survive Alive House?

A: One fire fatality is too many. Our hope is that by giving fire safety information to second graders, by the time they grow curious about lighters, matches and candles, they’ll know the dangers of them and what to do if a fire were to break out. When they return here as fifth graders, it’s more of a reminder of the dangers of fire and a recap on what they should do in case of an emergency. After we teach them fire safety measures here, they can teach their family and friends about how to escape and the importance of having a fire safety plan.