Getting your questions ready
Getting your questions ready
Beat the crowd
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This fire safety trivia quiz has 50 free questions with answers and covers the practical stuff first: where smoke alarms go and how often to test them, what to do with a pan fire, how far a space heater or candle should sit from anything that burns, and which extinguisher belongs on which class of fire. Then it widens out to the history that shaped the rules, from the Great Chicago Fire and the Iroquois Theatre to the Triangle factory, and to the mascots, codes and colour systems firefighters use every day. It is built for Fire Prevention Week in October, workplace safety briefings, scout troops and school assemblies, but it works just as well as a Sunday quiz. Roughly a third of the questions are easy enough for kids; the hardest ask about NFPA standards, hydrant colours and flashover temperatures. Every answer was checked against the U.S. Fire Administration, NFPA material or an encyclopedic source, and each question explains itself as soon as you answer.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01According to the U.S. Fire Administration, what is by far the leading cause of home fires?
Cooking
Unattended equipment is the biggest single factor, which is why the advice is simply to stand by your pan.
Q 02A pan on the stove catches fire. What does the U.S. Fire Administration say to cover it with?
A pan lid or baking sheet
Sliding a lid over the pan cuts off the oxygen; a stream of water on burning oil scatters the fuel and spreads the flames.
Q 03Once a smoke alarm sounds, the US Fire Administration says you may have under how long to get out?
2 minutes
That is why the advice is to find two ways out of every room and pick an outside meeting place in advance.
Q 04How often does the U.S. Fire Administration say you should test your smoke alarms?
Every month
Pressing the test button is enough; the whole unit should be replaced every 10 years from its manufacture date.
Q 05After how many years does the U.S. Fire Administration say an entire smoke alarm unit should be replaced?
10
The NFPA has required the ten-year replacement since 1999; the sensors degrade even if the battery is fresh.
Q 06Where does the U.S. Fire Administration say smoke alarms belong?
Inside and outside each bedroom and on every level
A closed bedroom door slows smoke and heat, which is exactly why an alarm is needed on both sides of it.
Q 07Ionization smoke detectors ionize the air using a small amount of which radioactive isotope?
Americium-241
Ionization units respond faster to flaming fires, while photoelectric detectors catch slow, smouldering fires sooner.
Q 08Which type of smoke detector responds faster to a fire in its early, smouldering stage?
Photoelectric
Optical detectors see the large smoke particles a smouldering fire produces, so many homes now use dual-sensor alarms.
Q 09The first low-cost smoke detector for home use was developed in 1965 by Duane Pearsall and whom?
Stanley Bennett Peterson
Homes with working detectors suffer less than half the deaths per fire of homes without them, by NFPA figures.
Q 10Which three things make up the classic fire triangle?
Heat, fuel and an oxidizing agent
The fire tetrahedron adds a fourth side, the chemical chain reaction, and removing any one of them puts the fire out.
Q 11What does the fire tetrahedron add to the three sides of the fire triangle?
Chemical chain reaction
Some extinguishing agents work by interrupting that reaction rather than by cooling or smothering.
Q 12Under the US system, which letter designates fires involving hot oils and fats in the kitchen?
K
Europe and Australia call the same category Class F; a solid stream of water should never be used on it.
Q 13Class D fires involve which kind of material?
Combustible metals such as magnesium
Alkali metals like lithium and sodium can react violently with water, so these fires need special dry-powder agents.
Q 21In 2001, the Forest Service's bear mascot had 'forest fires' in his slogan replaced with what?
Wildfires
The change reflected fires breaking out in grasslands and other natural areas, not only forests.
Q 22Sparky the Fire Dog, the NFPA's mascot created in 1951, is what breed?
Dalmatian
He appears dressed in firefighting gear and fronts Fire Prevention Week each October.
Q 23'Stop, drop and roll' puts out flames on clothing mainly by doing what?
Depriving the fire of oxygen
It is taught to children, emergency crews and industrial workers, and is most useful when flames are on the back.
Q 14Why is a carbon dioxide extinguisher not intended for Class A fires like wood and paper?
The high-pressure cloud can scatter burning material
CO2 units are the usual choice for electrical fires because they leave nothing behind.
Q 15The first fire extinguisher of which there is any record was patented in England in 1723 by whom?
Ambrose Godfrey
Captain George Manby demonstrated the first portable pressurised extinguisher, the 'Extincteur', in 1816.
Q 16Fire Prevention Week in the US and Canada is always the week containing which date?
October 9
The date commemorates the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, and the NFPA has sponsored the week since President Coolidge proclaimed the first one in 1925.
Q 17Which president proclaimed the first National Fire Prevention Week, in 1925?
Calvin Coolidge
The non-profit NFPA picks a new theme for the week each year.
Q 18The Great Chicago Fire is said to have started in a barn belonging to which family?
The O'Learys
The barn stood behind 137 W. DeKoven Street; the fire destroyed 17,000 structures and left more than 100,000 people homeless.
Q 19On the same day as the Great Chicago Fire, an even deadlier blaze consumed which Wisconsin town?
Peshtigo
It killed between 1,200 and 2,500 people, several times Chicago's toll, yet is far less remembered.
Q 20Which fire-safety mascot was authorized as the U.S. Forest Service's official symbol on August 9, 1944?
Smokey Bear
In 1950 a real orphaned cub rescued after the Capitan Gap fire in New Mexico became the living symbol.
Q 24How far does the U.S. Fire Administration say anything flammable should be kept from a space heater or fireplace?
At least 3 feet
Heating equipment was the second leading cause of home fires in 2021, and heaters should be switched off when you leave the room or go to bed.
Q 25How far from anything that burns does the U.S. Fire Administration say a lit candle should be kept?
At least 12 inches
On average 20 home candle fires are reported every day in the US, which is why flameless battery candles are recommended in bedrooms.
Q 26Per the US Fire Administration, roughly what share of Christmas tree fires are electrical?
Almost one-third
The advice is to water the tree every day, keep it 3 feet from heat sources and throw out light strands with frayed wires.
Q 27Which appliances does the US Fire Administration say must never be plugged into an extension cord?
Refrigerators, stoves, washers and dryers
An extension cord feeding a major appliance can overheat; failure to clean lint was the top factor in dryer fires from 2018 to 2020.
Q 28Where does the U.S. Fire Administration say used lithium-ion batteries should go?
A battery recycling location
Warning signs of a failing battery include odour, colour change, swelling, heat, leaking or odd noises.
Q 29Carbon monoxide is dangerous partly because it is what?
Colourless, tasteless and odourless
It comes from incomplete combustion, so blocked chimneys, space heaters and a car or grill run inside a garage are common sources.
Q 30Can a standard smoke detector be relied on to detect carbon monoxide?
No, they are separate devices, though combined units exist
CO detectors are meant to be installed in each sleeping area, and 32 US states had CO-detector statutes by 2017.