One of the biggest concerns that people face when choosing to rent an apartment is the potential of a fire erupting within the community, especially for people with upper floor apartments and families with children. Many families do not have solid fire escape routes in place, and many people are not familiar with the numerous ways to minimize the risk of a fire breaking out in an apartment community. 

Hosting a community-wide Fire Safety and Prevention Day is a proactive, inexpensive and fantastic way to educate and protect your residents, while also thanking the community Firefighters who risk their lives to keep people, pets and their homes safe from fire. Before you choose a date to host this event, be sure to check with your local Fire Department to see which day they would best be able to attend and also be able to bring one of the fire trucks. Plan on an alternate date, as well, just in case the fire truck gets called out and the event has to be re-scheduled.

For this event, you should print out enough floor plans for each apartment to pass out to your residents. You should also give copies to the fire department so they can review them before talking to your residents about their suggestions for safe fire escape routes within the community, and equipment such as window ladders. You may also choose to purchase a coloring book such as this one so you can make copies for the children in attendance to color. Your local Fire Department will also likely bring small goodies for the children, as well, such as pencils, stickers and coloring books. They will talk to your residents about fire safety, fire prevention, fire escape, Carbon Monoxide poisoning, and the importance of maintaining related equipment such as fire extinguishers, smoke and Carbon Monoxide detectors. The Firefighters may even be willing to let the children check out the fire truck and be sprayed by the hose! 

Since these men and women are going to be taking the time out of their busy schedules to come talk to and educate your residents, be sure to have a goodie table full of refreshments for them, and a big thank you card for all of your attending residents to sign. This will definitely make the Firefighters feel welcome and appreciated! 

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