Another Man's Family

[Music] No product, thing, attitude or concept is more difficult. to sell and safety and fire prevention of course is a related concept. Well, that puts this film right behind the eightball right from the start. But relax, we're not going to deliver a sermon. We won't moralize. We accept your belief that you can smoke in bed and get away with it. And we'll agree with you that it's always someone else who kills himself in such a foolish way. Though 1,500 homes in the United States go up in smoke every day, yours of course will not be one of them. No. Indeed, we aren't really selling fire prevention. Not directly anyway, because you won't buy. But we would like to demonstrate that fire is a cunning and malicious enemy. If that other guy is careless with it, someone you love might be injured. The firm you work for might lose a a million-doll business or might lose a highly trained and dedicated employee whose life is beyond price. Of course, some other employee, not you. So, relax and remain detached while we present a story based on a true life incident. Perhaps it will help you to understand why the National Fire Protection Association makes an intense effort to spread the gospel of fire prevention. All for the sake of that other guy. The story we've selected is short and simple. It has five main characters. Four are human. They're members of a young military family. The fifth character, of course, is fire. The main setting or stage is a house located about 2 miles from a large military installation. It's occupied by the Turner family. In civilian life or military, this is where most fires occur in family living quarters. Hear it. Hey, boy. Hear it. Hear it. Hear it. Hear it. Hear [Music] it. Come on, Rick. Get the wagon, please. [Music] Okay, let's go. [Music] [Applause] Now, you kids be good and mind your mom and watch the dog. Okay. Okay, Daddy, we will. Are you coming home for lunch, darling? No, I'm afraid not. I'm going to be a little too busy. I'm going to catch a bite at the base cafeteria. I'll see you this evening. Bye-bye. Bye. What a great day. The drama begins at a moment when all seems well. When the characters face no visible threat, it ends before dawn on the following day. This little drama has no particular plot. It's taken from real life where beginnings and endings and crises and climaxes are not easily recognized. In real life, there is no audience as such. All the world's a stage. All the people are actors. This is one reason why so-called accidents happen. If like professional actors, we had a script to follow. If we memorized and rehearsed our roles, errors and accidents would seldom happen. As it is though, we can't see ourselves in action. But we do have judgment based on knowledge and experience to guide us. Captain Turner is a safe driver. He lived through an almost fatal car [Music] crash. Now he uses judgment, understands how to act in traffic. James Turner realizes that at any moment he can become the one we blame for every accident, that other man. But what does the captain know about fire prevention? Will he also come to learn that lesson the hard way? When a fire hazard is recognized, there's no great problem. People believe in a hazard they can see. [Music] Belief inspires the emotion of fear and we take action which leads us to our main point. The best fire prevention is recognition of fire's hazardous nature. The trouble is that we see only harmless inanimate objects, not the potentially deadly things they really are. There is fire in any match. Some have heads that fly off, sticks that snap. Good safety matches, which have non-flying heads are preferable. But every type can be hazardous. Still other risks are concealed by habit and custom. It's not simply ignorance. We know about them. We even see them. But we become accustomed to the sight and then we see only the harmless objects. Lighted cigarettes are a common sight. Too common. These little igniters and matches are the two greatest causes of fire incidents simply because custom dulls our ability to see them for what they really are. Heat. Heat. [Music] There is no place like home. Why? Well, chiefly because it's a place of privacy. There's no official supervision at home. No cop writing tickets for taking a chance. June is not allowed to drive until she passes a written test and a driving test and thus earns a license. But she's allowed to keep house without proving she can recognize the risks in that occupation. Basically, fire prevention is an emotional attitude. It's a frame of mind, the ability to see and feel proper respect for real danger. June will never take preventive action unless she learns to see and feel the presence of danger. What method will teach her? a film like this, a friend's tragic lesson, or will she be motivated by the most effective and most intolerable means, bitter firsthand experience? [Music] To the grown-ups, a home means privacy, a place in which to be oneself. To the small ones, home means protection. It is a refuge from which to venture forth unafraid, a harbor to welcome their return. Joey and Dana share this room. Joey loves to climb, so the upper bunk is his. Dana doesn't mind. Her doll Gretchen feels safer near the floor, so she gladly takes the lower. [Music] But what is it like back in that half-for-gotten world of children? What do they know about the hazards in their refuge? Only the things they've been told by mother and dad and things they've learned by direct research sparked by curiosity. Joey may have a much better alibi than an adult for not recognizing the many faces of fire danger. His problem is complicated by simple ignorance. However careless adults may be, they can't plead ignorance. They know that fires are [Music] dangerous. At six, Dana knows many things, but not necessarily about fires or electrical hazards. Dana is old enough to have grownupt type possessions, her own small radio, but does she know it doesn't belong in the bathroom? Does her mother know? Many adults are ignorant of this. If soaking wet, you plug in a radio or a heater, you're playing a form of Russian roulette. You just might get away with it. The morning wears on, gives way to noon. It's a gorgeous day, and it's spring, and all the world is [Music] young. Trouble lies camouflaged on days like this. It seems impossible that anything bad could happen. Not in such serenity. Out at the base, it's been a good day for Captain Turner. He's a busy man. His mind is on practical matters. He doesn't have time to admire the glories of nature. Still, the feel of this day stirs the captain. It's good to be alive. Just before the crew breaks for lunch, it attracts a moment's attention. Then it is forgotten. [Music] Seems there was a fire in a barracks adjacent to the base cafeteria. When Captain Turner arrives for lunch, it's all over. A couple of firemen are cleaning up the area. What happened here? I don't know. Something bed caught on fire. Night maintenance mechanic. Reckon he went to sleep with a cigarette. That'll teach him. Not him. It won't. He's dead. Dead? Really? Why not? Sound asleep on a burning bed. What's to save him? I reckon he lucked out though. That's the way I'd want it. Don't ever wake me up. Thirdderee burns all over. Doesn't seem possible that a man could die in such a simple way, but it's more than possible. Believe it or not, smoking in bed is one of the chief causes of fire fatalities. Boy, the character of a house and home is more apparent at night. The family is together, isolated and safe from the dark outside. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Everyone is relaxed. The past day is just a memory. Now we are safe at home. The place where nothing bad ever happens. Okay, Tiger. It's time for you and your sister to go to bed now. Come on. But Dad, my water pistol is back there someplace. That's all right. I'll find it later. Go on. Sit down with your children. You two go on. Escape plan together. Plan two escape routes from every room. Teach children to escape at once. Don't let them try to put out the fire or stop to gather up possessions. Practice family fire drills regularly knowing what to do. Water pistol. Your child. Yesterday he lost it on the roof. Public service message on behalf of your local medical society and the American Medical Association. Dozens of random unrelated thoughts are swirling through my handsome brain as I pushed my sleek new sports car through the handsome streets of Beverly Hills toward her modest Bair home. Thoughts like, "I'll dazzle her with cup of gold candy bars. No woman can resist the creamy rich chocolate, crush almonds, handsome coconut, and that marshmallow batter." And I think I missed my turn. I'm at the Come on, boy. That's a good dog. That's a good dog. [Music] [Applause] Hey, outside. You go outside. You don't go in there. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Outside. Outside. You go. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] Mhm. Hm. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Fire in a sofa may smolder for hours before it breaks into open flame. You can fall asleep in a chair or on a sofa and never waken. Lethal gases are released by the smoldering fire. The gases themselves can suffocate you. [Music] [Music] Once free on the loose, fire is incredibly swift. It can run, climb, leap. It can even fly. Large buildings are often gutted in 10 minutes. A house can go in five or even three. In a burning room, the heated lethal gases usually rise to the ceiling. Moments later, the whole upper area of the room is filled with them. By the time you awaken, the killing gases may be just above you. [Applause] [Music] [Music] Hop. Help. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Applause] Heat up here. [Applause] Well, Colonel, it's plain as day what happened. The fire started over there in the sofa. Probably a cigarette that smoldered for hours, and they never woke up in time. We found the father right here, Colonel, by the bedroom window. Now, indications are that he rose straight up out of bed and dropped. He might have made it if he had crouched low and kept his head down. And the mother was right over there on the floor. Now, evidently she was going after the kids. And how about the kids? Well, let's go into the bedroom, Colonel, and I'll show you. Now, the little boy slept in the top bunk and he died in his sleep. And the little girl, she went for the front door. She almost made it, too, because they found her in the living room. Couldn't she get out the window? Well, that's what she should have done. But kids don't stop to think. They do the things they're used to. And all she knew is that people go out through doors. What a terrible price to pay. Certainly is. [Music] [Music] [Music] Here it is. Here it is. Here it is. Here it is. [Music] Here I am. Here it is. Here it is. Here I am. [Music] [Applause] [Music]