Fire chief gives safety tips

Stars and Stripes caught up with Chief Master Sgt. Charles Funkhouser, chief of the 100th Civil Engineering Squadron fire station at RAF Mildenhall, to find out his best fire safety tips on the heels of Fire Prevention Week.

What is the biggest mistake people make when involved in a fire? The biggest mistake is they don’t know when to get out. They don’t know how to fight the fire correctly and they end up fighting it for too long and making it worse. Take a kitchen fire. Some people may panic and throw water onto a grease fire and then the flames flare up and they panic even more.

That’s why we have a chip-pan demonstrator [basically a self-contained kitchen fire simulator]. … It drives home that point for people. Sometimes we show up and the fire’s worse than if they would have called us right away.

With the weather cooling down, what should folks remember when turning on their heat? If they’re going to use a portable-type space heater, they should get one that has a knock-over safety switch in case the kids or the animals or they knock it over themselves. The old ones would keep heating even when they turned over but the newer ones shut off when they’re down. And people should also be careful where they actually put the heater.

Also, when people lose their heat, they should not try to use a charcoal grill to get some heat. That’s absolutely not recommended and could kill them. ... With Thanksgiving coming up, deep-fat turkey fryers have become popular so we want to make sure people understand how to use those properly so we’ll be doing some more demonstrations as the holidays get closer.

What’s something most people don’t think about when it comes to fire safety?Most people forget how unattended cooking can lead to fires. It’s very easy to get distracted with the kids or when the phone rings … and then you hear the smoke detector going off and you see smoke and flames and that’s when panic sets in. … They should also know how to use a fire extinguisher. … And if their oven is on fire, the worst thing they could do is open the oven door. They’re better off leaving whatever is on fire inside the oven, turning it off and then calling the fire department if it doesn’t extinguish itself quickly.

People just don’t think about what to do in a fire enough. Then, when it happens to them they’re caught off-guard. … They panic, and the panic is what leads to mistakes. That’s why we’re beefing up our safety section. One week out of the year is not enough. We need to teach people about fire safety throughout the year.

What is your most useful fire safety demonstration for the public? The chip pan demonstrator is a good reminder of what happens when you throw water on a grease fire for the adults. And for the kids, the most effective message we’re trying to get across is stop, drop and roll, and also having a plan if there is a fire. Kids are good at asking the parents about coming up with a game plan, which makes the parents think about it for a moment too.

And the most important thing for everyone to remember is that once you have to leave your house for a fire, never try to go back in.