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Fire Safety for Older Adults

Fire and Fall Prevention for Older Adults

Small steps can reduce the risk of fires and falls at home. Use these resources to help yourself, a loved one, or someone you support stay safer.

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Make my home safer Find simple steps to prevent fires and falls with our checklists. Find smoke alarm options Learn about low-frequency, strobe, and bed shaker alarms. Order or request materials For fire agencies, community partners, caregivers, and educators. Connect with support Find Oregon programs and partner organizations.

The Only Matches We Like

Who said games are only for kids? Find the matching pairs of icons in the tiles below to learn more about the right steps you can take to keep yourself, or your loved ones, safe from fire and falls!

Select two tiles. If they match, a safety message will appear below the game. This game works with a mouse, touch screen, keyboard, or screen reader.

No tiles selected.

Safety message

Match a pair to reveal a safety message.

Read the safety messages without playing the game
  • Did you know that to reduce the risk of a fall, adults 65 and older need at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise.  This might be 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week or two days per week for a little over an hour! It’s important to engage in activities that strengthen muscles.
  • Did you know that you have less than two minutes to safely escape your home in the event of a fire? It's important to have a home escape plan to your abilities and to practice it at least once a year.
  • Did you know that having your vision and hearing checked annually can help reduce your chance of a fall? Annual health checkups are a great time to have routine tests and have your healthcare provider review your medications which can affect your balance and coordination.
  • Did you know that most home fires are started from cooking? It's important to "stand by your pan" and never walk away from food cooking on the stove top.

Safety Checklists

Explore the two checklists below to improve safety and prevent falls and fires. The interactive checklists are also available in a print-ready PDF.

Support at Every Level

Select a partner to learn more about their resources.

Support at Every Level

Getting older can come with new challenges, but we don’t have to do it alone. Whether it’s accessing resources for yourself, for a loved one, or for your community, we know that the resources we build together can last a lifetime.

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Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing Safety

A typical smoke alarm makes a high-pitched, piercing sound; however, for many people with hearing loss, this sound is beyond their hearing range. The low-frequency smoke alarm is designed for people with high-frequency or high-pitch hearing loss. It provides a loud, low-frequency tone that's easier to hear for people with hearing loss.

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This type of alarm has a visual and audible smoke alarm. The smoke alarm may be hard-wired with a battery backup to maintain the audible alarm, or may be stand-alone, battery-powered, or plug-in to an electrical outlet. These alarms use a flashing strobe light to provide a visual alarm, as well as an audible alarm.​

A low-frequency (audible), light or text (visual), and shaker (tactile) smoke alarm system. This type of alarm plugs into an electrical outlet and the shaker is placed under the pillow or mattress. It shakes when activated and produces an audible, low-frequency alarm. Some models can visually signal users of activation.​



Printed & Printable Resources

The Oregon State Fire Marshal has educational resources local fire agencies can order in English and Spanish.  These resources can also be requested as a printable download in Russian, Chinese-Simplified, and Vietnamese.

Order printed materials in English and Spanish here.

Email osfm.ce@osfm.oregon.gov to request other languages.


Where Can I Learn More?