Your Kid Can Become A Junior Fire Marshal At Home

For more than 70 years, The Hartford Insurance Group has been training kids to become “junior fire marshals”—and now, with so many children out of school during the pandemic, the company has created an online training academy so children can continue to learn about fire prevention from the safety of their own homes.

According to The Hartford, the Junior Fire Marshal Training Academy has deputised more than 111 million kids as “junior fire marshals” to date, and now kids can go through the curriculum—with your help—at home. All the lesson materials are downloadable and printable, including an introduction journal, flashcards, worksheets, home fire escape plans and other activity sheets.

Kids will learn four basic safety lessons in the academy:

• Matches and lighters are for grown-ups

• Smoke alarms are important

• Families should create and practice an escape plan

• Families should establish an outside meeting place

Each lesson can be taught in about 20 minutes (or longer, depending on how excited and engaged the child is with the curriculum) and can be broken up over several days or completed all at once.

Finally and perhaps most importantly: Once they’ve finished the introduction and all four lessons, you can print and fill out their official Certificate of Completion that notes they have successfully graduated from the program and are, indeed, a junior fire marshal.