Fire Safety is about understanding how fire works so you can prevent it and know what to do when it happens. You'll practice real skills, check your home, and learn how firefighters protect communities. These are skills that can truly save lives.
Why it's worth it
A home fire can become deadly in just a few minutes, and most fire deaths happen at home. This badge teaches you how fire actually works, so you can prevent it, escape it, and put out a small one safely. You'll check your own home, make sure your family's escape plan really works, and learn how firefighters and investigators think. It's knowledge that protects your family tonight and your campsite every trip.
Start this week
- Press the test button on every smoke alarm in your home with a parent, and write down the date.
- Walk your family's escape route from your bedroom and pick an outdoor meeting spot everyone agrees on.
- Ask your Scoutmaster for the name of a Fire Safety counselor, and contact them with a parent copied.
- Find where gasoline, paint thinner, or lighter fluid is stored at home and note whether it's away from heat and living areas.
Stay safe
- Practice with extinguishers and fire only with a trained adult or firefighter. In a real fire, get out, stay out, and call 911 from outside.
- Never use water on a grease, electrical, or flammable liquid fire.
Requirements · 10
Every official requirement and part, numbered to match Scouting America, in plain language. Sign off against the official wording (opens in a new tab).
- Requirement 1
Fire science and hazards
Tips for this section: Draw the fire tetrahedron and label each side. Think about how removing any one piece puts a fire out.
Example for this section: Draw the fire tetrahedron with fuel, heat, oxygen, and the chain reaction on each face. Then explain how each firefighting method removes one: water cools the heat, a fire blanket cuts off oxygen, and clearing brush removes fuel.
- Requirement 1a
Explain what fire is
- Requirement 1b
Name the four parts of the fire tetrahedron and what burning produces
- Requirement 1c
Describe how a fire grows and dies through its life cycle
- Requirement 1d
Explain the three ways heat is transferred
- Requirement 2
Fire extinguishers
Tips for this section: Learn the classes of fire and which extinguisher works on each. Practice using an extinguisher only with a trained adult or firefighter.
Example for this section: Explain the classes with examples: A (wood, paper, cloth), B (gasoline, oil, paint thinner), C (energized electrical equipment), D (burning metals), K (cooking oil and grease). Then practice PASS with a trained adult: Pull the pin, Aim at the base, Squeeze, Sweep.
- Requirement 2a
Explain the classes of fire
- Requirement 2b
Identify the classes of fire extinguishers and which one to use on each class of fire
- Requirement 2c
Demonstrate using both a fire blanket and a fire extinguisher
- Requirement 3
Fire-related injuries
Tips for this section: Practice stop, drop, roll, cool, and call until it's automatic, and teach it to a younger sibling.
- Requirement 3a
Explain and show stop, drop, roll, cool, and call
- Requirement 3b
Describe how clothes catch fire, how to prevent it, and how clothing can either protect you from burns or make them worse
- Requirement 3c
Name the most common causes of burns and how to prevent them
- Requirement 3d
Go over how to prevent, recognize, and treat airway burns and carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning
- Requirement 4
Where fires come from
Tips for this section: Ask a firefighter how investigators figure out where a fire started and why arson is so serious.
- Requirement 4a
Explain the four ways a fire's origin is classified (natural, accidental, incendiary, or undetermined), with an example of each
- Requirement 4b
Describe how a fire ruled incendiary could lead to someone being prosecuted for arson
- Requirement 5
Fire safety at home
Tips for this section: Go through the checklist with your family, testing smoke alarms and looking for hazards. Practice your escape plan.
Example for this section: Your checklist might find: a space heater too close to curtains, an extension cord running under a rug, a dryer lint trap that's packed full, and no fire extinguisher in the kitchen. Help your family fix at least one.
- Requirement 5a
Describe how to prevent common causes of home fires: cooking left unattended, electricity, smoking, clothes dryers, and rechargeable batteries
- Requirement 5b
Describe how to prevent seasonal and holiday home fires, including those from home heating, holiday trees, candles, and fireworks
- Requirement 5c
Show how to light and put out a candle safely. Talk about safe candle use with your counselor, then with your family
- Requirement 5d
With an adult's help, inspect a home (or a similar building nearby or at camp) for fire hazards using the pamphlet's Home Fire Safety Checklist or one your counselor approves. Go over the results with your counselor
- Requirement 5e
Find out whether your community requires smoke and CO alarms in homes, and which kinds. List the smoke and CO alarms in your home, where they are, and when they expire
- Requirement 5f
Show your counselor how to maintain smoke and CO alarms, and go over plans for replacing any that have expired
- Requirement 5g
With your family, make a plan for escaping a home fire and a schedule for fire drills. Draw a floor plan with exits marked and a map to your family meeting spot, then hold a fire drill at home
- Requirement 5h
Explain the dos and don'ts when you smell natural gas, and when you smell smoke
- Requirement 5i
Explain how you would report a fire to get the fire department to come
- Requirement 6
Flammable and combustible liquids
Tips for this section: Look at where gasoline, paint thinner, and similar liquids are stored in your home and talk with a parent about safer storage.
Example for this section: Explain safe handling: store gasoline only in approved containers in a detached shed or garage, never indoors near a water heater, never use it to start a fire, and take old solvents to a household hazardous waste drop-off.
- Requirement 6a
Explain which flammable and combustible liquids are common at home and how to store them safely
- Requirement 6b
Describe how to safely refuel an engine (for example a car, lawn mower, farm machine, or outboard motor) using fuel from an approved container
- Requirement 6c
Describe the ways your community offers to safely get rid of unwanted flammable, combustible, and hazardous substances
- Requirement 7
Fire safety in public buildings
Tips for this section: Next time you're at school or a store, notice the exit signs, sprinklers, and fire alarms. Think about why each is there.
- Requirement 7a
Explain how public buildings are designed with fire safety in mind
- Requirement 7b
Explain the fire safety systems and equipment found in public buildings
- Requirement 7c
Explain the fire safety steps you should take while inside a public building
- Requirement 8
Fire safety at camp
Tips for this section: On your next campout, help set up a safe fire area and show how to build, tend, and fully put out a fire.
Example for this section: At camp, show a safe fire site: clear a 10-foot circle, use an existing fire ring, keep water and a shovel nearby, build a small fire, and put it out by drowning, stirring, and feeling for heat until it's cold to the touch.
- Requirement 8a
Explain how the Outdoor Code and the Leave No Trace Seven Principles apply to campfires
- Requirement 8b
Show how to safely light a match, put it out, and dispose of it. Explain how safety matches and strike-anywhere matches are alike and different
- Requirement 8c
Explain and show how to make sparks with flint and steel or a ferro rod and catch one to make a flame. Put the flame out safely using one principle of the fire tetrahedron
- Requirement 8d
Show how to start a charcoal fire safely
- Requirement 8e
Describe three common fire lays. Gather and prepare tinder, kindling, and fuel and build a campfire following Leave No Trace and the Outdoor Code, then light it and put it out safely
- Requirement 8f
Show how to use a camp stove
- Requirement 8g
Explain how to set up a campsite and keep it safe from fire
- Requirement 8h
Plan a lesson that teaches a fire safety topic or skill, like lighting a match, candle, lantern, charcoal, or camp stove, using flint and steel, or building a fire lay. Review it with your counselor, then teach it to one or more Scouts using EDGE
- Requirement 9
Wildland fires
Tips for this section: Learn what causes wildfires where you live and what families and campers can do to prevent them.
Example for this section: Explain how wildfires start where you live, from lightning to dragging trailer chains to unattended campfires. Then describe defensible space around homes and how smoke affects health miles away.
- Requirement 9a
List what causes wildland fires and how to prevent them
- Requirement 9b
Explain how wildland fires affect people, the economy, and the environment
- Requirement 10
Careers. Choose 1 of 2
Tips for this section: Call your local fire station and ask if your patrol can visit. Bring questions about the job and training.
- Requirement 10a
Visit a fire station in person and identify the kinds of fire service vehicles. Learn from the firefighters about local fire prevention and their careers, then tell your counselor what you learned
- Requirement 10b
Name three careers that use fire safety skills. Research one: training, education, certification, experience, cost to get started, job outlook, starting pay, and advancement. Discuss it with your counselor and whether it interests you
Places to visit
Ask an adult to set it up, and go with your family, den, patrol, or crew.
A fire station
See the engine, turnout gear, and breathing equipment, and ask firefighters about prevention and their training.
How: Have an adult call the station's non-emergency number to schedule your patrol. Ask if someone could demonstrate an extinguisher.
A fire training center or fire safety house
Some departments have smoke-filled training houses and burn buildings where they practice and teach escape skills.
How: An adult can ask the fire department's public education officer about youth programs or open houses.
Where it can lead
- FirefighterResponds to fires, rescues, and medical calls; many start as volunteers or cadets.
- Fire inspectorChecks buildings for code violations so fires don't start.
- Fire investigatorStudies burn patterns and evidence to find a fire's cause.
- Wildland firefighterFights forest and grass fires for federal and state agencies.
- Fire protection engineerDesigns sprinklers, alarms, and exits for buildings.
Ask yourself
- What fire hazard did you find at home that you'd walked past many times?
- How confident would you feel getting out of your home at night if the alarm went off?
- What surprised you about how fast fire spreads?
- How has learning the fire tetrahedron changed how you build and put out campfires?
- Who in your family or neighborhood could use your help checking their smoke alarms?
Good questions to ask a firefighter or fire inspector
- What causes most of the house fires you respond to?
- What do people do wrong when they try to escape a fire?
- How do investigators figure out where and why a fire started?
- What does your gear protect you from, and what are its limits?
- How did you train for this job, and are there volunteer paths for teens?
Helpful reads
- Earning a merit badge, step by step, From picking a badge to getting the final signature: how to find a counselor, set up meetings safely, work the requirements, and keep your progress., Youth · Families · 6 min read
- Contacting counselors, experts, and organizations, Email and phone scripts, who to ask for, how to follow up, and how to say thanks, with a parent copied every time., Youth · Families · 7 min read
- Choosing your next merit badge, How to pick a badge you'll actually finish: start with what you care about, balance Eagle-required and just-for-fun badges, and make the most of camp., Youth · Families · 6 min read
For leaders & parents
- Arrange a fire station visit and ask if firefighters can demonstrate extinguisher use.
- Practice safe campfire skills on troop outings so Scouts can show them naturally.
People & places that can help
- Merit badge counselor — Talk with them early; they can explain what's expected.
- Your local fire department — Firefighters can teach fire safety and show their equipment.
- National Fire Protection Association (opens in a new tab) — Home fire safety tips and escape planning.
- Smokey Bear (opens in a new tab) — Wildfire prevention information.
- U.S. Fire Administration (opens in a new tab) — Home fire safety, escape planning, and facts about fires across the country.
- Firewise USA (opens in a new tab) — How neighborhoods protect homes from wildfire with defensible space.
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Tips, examples, and questions are ideas from experienced leaders, not extra requirements. Your unit leader or counselor decides when a requirement is complete.