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(KSL News) -- Each year thousands of people die in house fires, and the most vulnerable are children under five. The Federal Emergency Management Agency says these children have double the risk of dying in house fires because they can't get out as quickly as adults.
The agency is now pushing new fire safety tips for toddlers. They say families with young children should hide matches and lighters, create an escape plan, and have an early alert system.
And although working smoke alarms do offer early warning, a distrurbing test in Texas shows some kids don't wake up when the alarm goes off.
David Paulison, U.S. Fire Administrator: "The children may not hear because they do sleep a lot deeper than we do, and the older we get the less we sleep deep. So we need to pay very close attention to that if we hear the smoke alarm."
Statistics show that fire deaths have dropped dramatically as smoke detector usage has increased.
