Kids Don’t Fly!
The Colorado Springs Fire Department wants you and your family to stay safe and prevent injuries that come from window falls. With the warmer temperatures, we need to have a heightened awareness of what can be done to help keep families safe from the risk of accidental falls or injuries in the home. Falls from a window are extremely dangerous, especially for children, and can cause serious injuries or death.
Windows play a vital role in home safety, serving as a secondary escape route in the event of a fire or other emergency, but they can also pose a risk for a fall if safety measures are not followed. Determine your family's emergency escape plan and practice it. Remember that children may have to rely on a window to escape in a fire. Help them learn to safely use a window under these circumstances. Make sure nothing is blocking or preventing a window from being opened in the case of an emergency.
If you are opening windows for ventilation, only open windows that a child cannot reach. Don’t rely on insect screens to prevent a fall, as they are designed to provide ventilation and not to prevent a child’s fall from a window. Install building code-compliant devices, such as window guards (with quick-release mechanisms in case of fire).
Action Steps You Can Take:
- When performing spring repairs, make sure that your windows are not painted or nailed shut.
- Do not install window unit air conditioners in windows that may be needed for escape in an emergency. The air conditioning unit could block escape through the window.
- Always be sure that you have at least one window in each sleeping and living area that meets escape and rescue requirements.
- Windows guards must have a release mechanism so that they can be opened for escape in a fire emergency.
KEEP KIDS AWAY
- Keep windows closed and locked when kids are around.
- Set & enforce rules about keeping kids play away from windows. Falling through glass can be fatal or cause serious injury.
- Keep furniture or anything kids can climb on away from windows.
*Source National Safety Council
You can download and print this Window Safety flyer.