Survive Alive House Foundation
Here is a snapshot of the programs we help support!
The cornerstone of the educational programs we provide to Chicago’s communities and schools is our Survive Alive House simulator, which is used to teach primarily children about how to react to a smoke-filled or fire situation.
In addition, we also have a mobile vehicle simulator, which is a two-bedroom unit with kitchen that allows firefighters to demonstrate safety practices during all types of emergency weather and fire conditions to residents throughout Chicago’s neighborhoods. The mobile fire simulation fills the unit with theatrical smoke, and children then practice their escape plan with trained instructors. To our knowledge, this is the only vehicle in the State of Illinois that has this capability. This mobile simulator was placed into service nearly 20 years ago and has served as the focal point for no fewer than 24,000 educational programs, reaching more than 2 million people to date.
Through our mobile unit, the public education team handles a number of public services, including car seat inspections. We do these at our office location in the South Loop and have conducted thousands of inspections since the program’s inception.
The Chicago Fire Department does not solely give away smoke and/or carbon monoxide alarms. We rely on staff and volunteers to explain and discuss residential fire safety practices, distribute literature and even install devices in the homes of Chicago’s vulnerable residents. The mobile unit we have is a vehicle through which we are able to attract attention and distribute valuable life safety devices to people of all ages.
Our specially trained team of public education and fire safety experts intervene and have, year to date, a 100 percent success rate in rehabilitating these troubled youth and easing their way through the courts and youth detention systems when they are remanded to us. Through the mobile unit, which reaches thousands of children each year and millions since it entered service, we hope to instill enough knowledge about the dangers of fire that children never choose to play with such a disastrous element. Further, parents can use reminders about fire safety and need to understand that young people should not have access to fire-starting devices.
The Fire Escape is a first-of-its-kind immersive experience that teaches the 10 Steps to Fire Safety to Chicago’s elementary school students. The 15-minute program operates on Meta headsets and teaches the 10 Steps through a three-chapter virtual reality (VR) program. The Fire Escape, which launched as the Chicago Fire Department marked 30 years of providing fire safety education to Chicago schools, brings fire safety education into the 21st century using technology to encourage recall and retention.