Modern child care centers are usually equipped with sprinkler systems, high-tech fire alarms that are linked to the local fire station, and doors leading directly outside in every classroom that allow kids a quick and easy escape in the event of a fire. Therefore the fire risk for children in recently built facilities is very low.

When it comes to home day cares and centers in older retrofitted buildings, however, it can be a different story. Home day cares are especially susceptible to fire hazards. Not only are residential homes a bigger fire trap, with multiple levels, more rooms and fewer exits, but you typically have a single caregiver who is doing multiple things (like cooking lunch while also watching the children). More kids in the home also means a higher risk of kids starting fires, whether by playing with fire or doing something like turning the knob on a stove.

*Visit this link for more information on fire safety & how to protect your family from fire.

Here are some stories of children being injured or killed in fires at day care:

Firefighter’s children perish in home day care fire
In a rather ironic and tragic case, a volunteer firefighter’s 3 children died in a fire at a home day care center while he was out responding to another call…a call that turned out to be a false alarm. The fire killed a total of 5 children, ranging in ages from 8 months to 7 years. An adult and two adolescent boys managed to escape. It was later revealed that the home lacked adequate smoke detectors; there was only one, and it was installed in the attic. In this state, the adequacy of smoke alarms was not something inspectors looked for when inspecting home day care centers. (Wall Street Journal, 8-13-2019, p. A6; 8-14-2019, p. A2)