Safety education charity Absafe has launched a new interactive game designed to help children make safe decisions, should they be faced with a fire in their home.
Absafe is the North-east of Scotland’s only charity dedicated to safety education and awareness. In the last twelve months, Absafe has reached an audience of approximately 3000 children through school visits to its facility and road safety assembly programme.
The charity teaches the fundamentals of personal safety, with topics including cybersecurity, road safety and anti-social behaviour covered in Absafe’s repertoire.
The Bridge of Don-based charity will use the Android-enabled game in its fire safety sessions. These educational lessons are delivered by the Absafe team and its volunteers, and are aimed to inform children about the dangers of fire and smoke, as well as the consequences of making hoax calls.
In the new tablet-based game, users are asked to navigate their way out of a burning house within a two-minute timeframe or they face serious injuries or even death if they cannot escape. The new game is backed by Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, who work in partnership with Absafe to ensure sessions are up to date and relevant. Cabot Speciality Fluids donated funding to allow Absafe to purchase three tablets.
Malcolm McMillan, Absafe’s education manager said: “Our new fire safety game is a new way for us to help inform children about the real dangers of fire. It gives kids a real perspective of what it may look and sound like to be at home when a fire breaks out.
“We’ve included distractions within the game such as ringing mobile phones and pets – these are there to show what can happen if anyone attempts to turn back while trying to escape.
“Absafe exists to keep people safe. We believe our new technology will help to educate kids in the dangers of fire, but the important message will be presented to them in an up to date and engaging way.”