Lynnfield FD offers free Tot Finder stickers

LYNNFIELD – The Lynnfield Fire Department recently became involved with a new fire safety program designed to help firefighters better locate a child’s bedroom in the instance of a fire rescue.The new Tot Finder program, offered by the Pennsylvania-based Alert All Corp, involves the placement of three stickers around the child’s bedroom door. The stickers are highly-reflective and movable, so parents can easily transfer the stickers to different doors as the child changes rooms.One sticker should be placed belong the handle, while the other two should be placed on either side of the door, down near the door jambs.”When you’re on your hands and knees in that smoky condition looking for people in the building, you can pick it out,” said veteran Lynnfield firefighter Jim Alexander. “It’s just one part of what you need to to do to be safe.”Alexander decided to implement the Tot Finder program to fill a public need. He said residents often stop by the station looking for stickers to place on the outside of their child’s windows, a common practice that has since been discontinued. Alexander said identifying a child’s bedroom to passersby on the street just wasn’t the right thing to do anymore.”When I saw (Tot Finder) being offered in Pennsylvania, I decided to check into it,” he said.As successful as the sticker program is, it should not be a substitute for an effective home fire safety program, Alexander cautioned. He said each home should have working smoke detectors on each level of the home, a fire escape plan, regular fire drills, and a fire suppression system.In the instance of a fire, Alexander reminds residents to stay calm and get out of the house. If doors feel hot, don’t open them, crawl under the smoke, meet at your pre-established meeting place, call the fire department from outside of the building, and never, ever, re-enter a burning building.Residents may pick-up their free Tot Finder stickers at the South Fire Station, 600 Salem St., Monday through Friday from 9-3 p.m.