The nonprofit Home Safety Council's Expert Network is offering teaching materials with Fire Safety Month messages. The materials are geared toward elementary school children and hard-to-reach populations such as adults with low-level English reading skills.

The Expert Network is an online resource that serves fire safety educators; it has more than 5,200 members. In honor of Fire Safety Month, the Home Safety Council is offering limited quantities of materials at no cost to members, through Oct. 31 and while supplies last. Shipping and handling charges start at $7.50 for one to three items. In addition, the Expert Network offers a wide range of downloadable and printable materials. These can be accessed online, and on demand, at no cost. Here are some of the fire safety materials being made available:

“When we recently surveyed fire chiefs to benchmark the state of fire and life safety education in America, the resounding message was that our educators need more support, and more quality materials that they can afford for use in their community,” says HSC President Meri-K Appy. “We’re especially pleased to be able to provide educational materials that address the importance of installing home fire sprinklers. This is such a vital message for all age groups, but it’s one that is too often overlooked.”

“I couldn’t achieve the level of outreach that we have here in Plano without the Expert Network,” says Peggy Harrell with the Plano (Texas) Fire Department.

The Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition is giving away its new public education kit available to fire service and public educators. HFSC also launched a new interactive educational web site, SprinklerSmarts.org. The new material is part of HFSC’s effort to provide the fire service with the materials to educate the public on the benefits of residential fire sprinklers. The kits were funded by a Department of Homeland Security Fire Grant.

The kit includes a CD containing customizable presentations, public relations tools, and programs. The DVD consists of all of HFSC’s educational videos including the Protect What You Value Most consumer education video, Built for Life for builders, and Living with Sprinklers for people living in homes protected with sprinklers. The kit also includes new educational brochures for real estate and insurance professionals.

Children are the main focus with Sprinkler Smarts, an animated web site, which offers interactive games for children while also providing teaching materials to help public educators, teachers, and parents educate children. Fire safety officials can use worksheets offered on the website as well as other downloadable material in collaboration with the presentations and games. These materials help children understand fire safety and prevention as well as identify fire sprinklers and their benefits through an entertaining form of education.