A campaign from the UK that started in 1988 and produced multiple PIFs about stopping and/or surviving house fires. They would air on television and are known to scare children.
Around 2018, it seemed the campaign went defunct. However, this turned out to not be the case, as around 2019-2020 it started up again.
Moonlighters[]
Moonlighters, or The Fall of the Mooninites
Description: Biblock and Hoblock go out to a stroll on the moon until they find a "strange thing" on the ground. They go to the computer to find out what it is, and the computer tells them the thing was a lighter. The computer also tells the history of how the aliens learned to live without fire, and their attempts to make fire failed. The computer then tells that today the moon is kept warm by the sun. Biblock turns off the computer and warns Hoblock that they shouldn't touch the lighter. That night, Hoblock plays with the lighter and sets the moon city on fire. The moon creatures get injured by the fire, and some of them go back underground while the others rebuild the moon city. Hoblock fixes the computer while his sister Hibling brings him sandwiches. Hoblock tells her not to play with lighters as the screen shrinks into a brown background and the yellow text, "Never play with lighters!" appears above. The text, "And never play with matches, either!" appears below the text. The PIF ends with the green text,
Grown-ups
below the yellow text, "Keep lighters and matches away from children!" with the Fire Kills logo.
Variant: This was remade by Fire Kills in 2000.
FX/SFX: Traditional Animation.
Transcript: TBA
Availability: Seen in some YouTube videos.
Scare Factor: None to Low. It's pretty tame compared to their other PSAs.
Victim (1999)[]
A disturbing 1999 PIF from Fire Kills. Watch 'til the end to get the fright of your life.
Description: We begin with the camera zooming towards a kitchen which is probably set up in a studio as we hear a female narrator speaking. Then, a firefighter comes and walks towards a burning chip pan set on a stove. The firefighter wets a cloth under a tap and put it on top of the pan. As he does this, the narrator gives tips about what to do in the event of a chip pan fire. The firefighter then grabs a bottle of water and pours it on top of the pan, making the fire more deadly and spread across the kitchen ceiling. The fire continues burning as we zoom out of a screen set up in a recording studio and we pan across the room to find the narrator sitting in a chair next to a microphone. At the end, we finally see the narrator as she sits in her chair at a microphone and says in a chilling voice, "The effects can be devastating". The PIF then ends with a close-up of her burnt face looking directly at the camera with the Fire Kills logo in the bottom left and the words, "THE FIRE BRIGADE", in the bottom right.
Scare Factor: Low to Nightmare. If the fire rapidly spreading doesn't scare you enough, the narrator's burnt face and calm tone of voice will!
Don't Give Fire A Chance (2002 Variant)[]
See Don't Give Fire a Chance for information.
Excuses[]
"Excuses" is a PIF made by Fire Kills in the late '90s to early 2000s.
Description: A car is shown with a flower wreath saying, "I Didn't Get Around to It", therefore going full force on the PIF'S theme. It then zooms out to some shots of cars and buildings, until we get to a memorial on a bridge saying,
"In Memory of Audley Jones"
"'They were too difficult to put up.'".
Then, we move on to a memorial service in a church. The memorial says, "Susan Dawes, died aged 54. 'I didn't know where to buy them.'"
We then move on to a park, where another memorial stands. This one reads, "Anita Sharma, aged 32. 'They were too expensive.'"
We then move on to a gravestone. It says,
IN LOVING MEMORY
CLAIRE LACEY
AGED 30 YEARS
"MY HUSBAND SHOULD HAVE DONE IT."
And then,
PAUL LACEY
AGED 34 YEARS
"MY LANDLORD SHOULD HAVE DONE IT."
And then finally,
TOM LACEY
AGED 3 MONTHS
After that, a title screen comes up with a fire alarm that says, "Excuses kill. Get a smoke alarm."
FX/SFX: The fire alarm beeping at the end.
Music: Down to the Valley to Pray by Little Axe, but covered by someone unknown.
Availability: Very easy to find in many countdowns and just uploaded on YouTube.
Scare Factor: Medium to Nightmare, as all of these people did die in a fire. It's mostly sad though, since most of these people died young.
Depression Factor: Upsetting, due to all the deaths of people and how young they died.
Night Vision (2002)[]
See Nightvision for more information.
Nickname(s): "The Late Escape", "All smoke, no fire", "Get out alive".
Description: First, there is a boy and a girl in a bedroom filled with toys. Smoke is covering the room as the boy yells to their father for help while the girl cries. Then there's a close-up of a burnt plug outlet, with a caption saying, "Make sure everyone knows what to do in a fire". After that, an elderly woman is screaming while banging her locked front door hoping someone will help her, but to no success. While this happens, smoke is covering the whole room. We get a shot outside with a dog barking before cutting to an image of a burnt wall, with another caption, "Keep door and window keys where you can all find them." Lastly, a man wakes up coughing, rushes out of his bed and runs through the door, which is covered with a cloud of smoke. Unfortunately, a bicycle was in his way, causing him to trip over it and injure himself. A caption reads, "Keep your exits clear." Then a black background shows, where a caption reads, "Make your plan." Complete with a female announcer. Then, "Get out alive", fades in. The Fire Kills logo also fades in along with its website URL below.
Variants: There are 3 shortened versions, one for each scene. One of which where it just has the man waking up coughing, the fire is a lot bigger, and then it shows him tripping over the bicycle and then struggling to crawl to the nearest exit. The caption is changed to, "How will you get out alive?". Another shows the children trapped in their smoke-filled room, the boy comforting his distressed sister while calling out for their dad. The duo both start choking on the smoke. The boy's cries are cut off half-way before the end caption, "How will you get out alive?" is displayed. The final one (including a shot of a cat statue and lamp on a table) shows the old lady trying to desperately open her front door in vain before reverting to banging on it, being overcome by the smoke. Fade to black and once again, "How will you get out alive?" is displayed.
FX/SFX: Live action.
Music/Sounds: The dialogue, sizzling from the plug, sounds of a fire spreading, banging, sounds of water splashing, coughing and rattling, and smoke alarm beeps. The background soundtrack consists of eerie ambient sounds as well as a droning synth note.
Trivia:
- Fire is visible in this PIF for a slight second through a hatch before the man trips over his bicycle, other than that, just smoke.
- Contrary to popular belief, this PIF was never banned entirely.
- The house that was shown in the second segment of the PIF was filmed in Pitchford Street, West Ham, East London The exact house can be found here.
Controversy: This PIF received complaints from seven viewers. The complaints claimed that children from 3 to 6 were affected negatively by the advert. Three suffered from nightmares and sleeping problems, one feared that her house would burn down and began bedwetting after two years, and another child was too frightened to sleep alone. Others were too fearful of being alone including a six-year-old who refused to go into any room, including the toilet, despite reassurance from his parents. Eventually, the PIF was banned from airing before 7:30 PM.
Availability: Seen on some YouTube channels. This used to air on TV during advert breaks but was shown less after receiving complaints. The Variants are extremely rare.
Scare Factor: Nightmare. The disturbing subject matter, with the children and woman yelling for help, the ominous soundtrack and the darkness will surely frighten and haunt children. The negative fates of each person trapped in a fire and the realistic situations add up to make this one of the darkest and most frightening fire safety PIFs of all time, or PIFs in general. And the scare factor increases to people who love their toys and other belongings, since the kids room was full of innocent toys.
Inferno (2002)[]
Description: We start with fire on a black background that disappears twice before it cuts to a black tree with fire and wood burning before the smoke appears. The camera zooms out to reveal a cigarette on a sofa, which starts off as a close-up shot, and zooms out revealing the shadows of the glass and a cup of tea and a book on the table until the fire appears. Then the camera pans up to reveal window, blind and a kitchen until the fire starting the kitchen. Then the camera pans up to the bedroom that consists of a main side bed, light, tables, wardrobe, curtains and clothes until the camera zooms out. It fades to the tagline "Put it out. Right out." with the Fire Kills logo.
Variant: There exists a 10-second short version. When the camera zooms out to reveal the cigarette on the sofa. It fades straight to the tagline "Put it out. Right out.”
FX/SFX: Everything except for the camera zooming out and the panning up.
Music/Sounds: We hear the fire burning sounds, and when the camera starts zooming out, we hear the sounds of clock on the wall before the fire burning sounds again. The male announcer says, "Fires started by cigarettes, kill more than any other." Then we hear some heartbeat sounds before the announcer says the concluding tagline accompanied by the two sounds. On the 10-second short version, the announcer says, "There’s one kind of fire that kills more than any other." When the camera starts zooming out, the announcer says the concluding tagline comes in slightly.
Availability: Seen on some YouTube Channels. The 10-second short version is pretty rare on Channel 4 ad breaks during Beat the Nation, Countdown, Richard & Judy, Friends, and Hollyoaks while the 30-second normal version is up on YouTube.
Scare Factor: TBA.
Push the button, not your luck (2004)[]
Nickname(s): "Forgetful Father", "Forgetful Man", "Do You Forget Little Things?", "Economy can't afford small things".
Description: We see several montage of the family's forgetful things: the father's keys, getting out the bins, Valentine's Day, toilet paper rolls, money, umbrellas, and the batteries in the smoke alarm where the last scene shows the now burnt out house, with the father crying over the loss of his family, as the camera shows the photograph of his wife and daughter with the bouquet of flowers. The last thing we see is an index finger pushing the button in the smoke alarm. Then it cuts to the tagline, "Push the button. Not your luck" with the Fire Kills logo and the URL.
FX/SFX: Live action Montage
Music/Sounds: We hear music and dialogue playing as a male announcer says, "Do you forget little things? Like your keys? Putting out the bins? Valentine's Day? Loo roll? Money? Umbrellas? The batteries in your smoke alarm?" The music stops to silence as the screen cuts to the burnt out house, then the father cries over the loss of his family. The announcer concludes, "Remember: test them every week. Change them every year." Then the smoke alarm sounds, and the announcer says the concluding tagline.
Availability: Seen on some YouTube Channels.
Scare Factor: Medium. It's very serious when the forgetful father pushes his luck up to the point of losing his family. The sudden change in tone can also shock viewers.
Trivia: The car at the end is a Rover 214.
Fire Kills[]
A.K.A.: You can prevent it.
Description: We see a simplistic animation of a family following a plan to escape from a house fire. The PIF starts with the Fire Kills logo, which rotates to the right and morphs into an arrow. The camera pans to the right to show a pulsing red dot, accompanied by the sound of a smoke alarm. This then zooms out to show a floorplan of a house, with a red dotted line tracing the escape route. These dots then form the heads of stick figures, presumably the escaping family, who then morph once again into the fingers of a hand, clutching a door key. A door appears behind it and the camera focuses on the window, which then morphs into the floorplan again and shows the route has been blocked by fire. A green dotted line traces another exit route and the family escapes from the house, which morphs for the last time back into the Fire Kills logo.
Transcript: Fire kills, but you can prevent it. Follow these simple directions. Plan and practice an escape route and make sure everyone knows it. Keep keys to hand, but safe. Make sure all exits are kept clear - the best escape route is the exit that you use all the time - but have a plan B so you can all escape quickly. Get out, stay out, call 999.
FX/SFX: Computer animated. The only sounds are the voice of the narrator, the jingling of the door key and the smoke alarm and a siren in the background.
Availability: Seen on some YouTube channels, including the official Fire Kills channel, and TVARK.
Music: None.
Scare Factor: None. This is more informative than scary.
'Tis the Season to be careful[]
Description: We zoom over the Christmas cards until we zoom through the window of a house Christmas card. We see the living room completely vacant, only the Christmas lights on the tree were left on, the candles and the fireplace are still lit. Then, the christmas lights flicker until we zoom to the source of the flickering; an overloaded socket. It short circuits, giving out smoke. Next, we see a cigarette left on the ashtray, still smouldering away until it falls onto some tissue paper on the sofa. Then, we see some lit candles in front of the curtains being blown by the draft of the open window, we see a close-up of the curtains being blown to the flames. Finally, we see a Christmas card of the Christmas carollers as the camera slowly zooms towards it, transitioning to the family wrapped up in a blanket, watching hopelessly as their house goes up in flames and the firemen preparing to extinguish the fires. We fade out from the shot, and the following message, "'Tis the season to be careful" appears, followed by the Fire Kills logo and the URL.
Variant: A 30-second short version of this PIF exists. On this version, it cuts to the "'Tis the season to be careful" message, with the Fire Kills logo and the URL. Also, the "'Tis the season to be careful" message is already formed.
FX/SFX: All live-action.
Music/Sounds: We hear an somber instrumental version of "Deck the Halls" throughout this PIF, alongside sound effects. At the beginning, the "tick tock" sounds from the clock are heard.
Availability: Rare, used to be shown on TV. Now seen on some YouTube channels.
Scare Factor: Medium to High. The peaceful atmosphere slowly becoming more ominous and the fire that breaks out can scare some viewers.
Christmas Lights[]
This Fire Kills PIF explains the dangers of Christmas lights when left on due to negligence.
Description: We see a living room with a Christmas Tree and a stuffed bunny in front of the coffee table. A fire lights up under the Christmas tree and, in a manner similar to the "Smoke Kills" PIF, when setting it on fire, the fire starts lighting up the entire living room before completely burning the room and the bunny in one minute. After the fire eventually burns up the entire living room and engulfing the screen completely, turning it to a black screen, we see the white text fade in, "Remember to turn off your Christmas lights." After this text fades out, we see "It only takes a minute." before that text fades out.
FX/SFX: Live Action. The fire burning the tree, then the furniture, then the stuffed bunny.
Music/Sounds: A chorus singing the carol "Silent Night" with a piano tune.
Availability: Seen in some YouTube videos.
Scare Factor: High to Nightmare. The fire burning up the room can scare many viewers, especially when it burns the stuffed bunny. It can scare children possibly for life. The chorus singing "Silent Night" doesn't help.
Ash[]
Description: We see a number of hands place expensive or otherwise valuable objects onto a table. The items from left to right are: a digital camera, a picture, a shoe and a purse. Some white text fades in.
Value your stuff?
It then suddenly turns to ash. The screen darkens and some more white text fades in.
Value your life.
Check your smoke alarm.
And we are then greeted with the Fire Kills logo.
FX/SFX: Live action, with CGI.
Availability: Seen on some YouTube channels.
Scare Factor: Low to Medium. The silent and ominous nature may unsettle some viewers, and the sudden 'ashification' of the items could be considered a bit of a jumpscare.
Backwards[]
Description: All of the footage in this PIF are playing in reverse: It starts off as the family seeing the fire in the house. Then it fades to one shot and another as the family escaping the house, from upstairs, and from the beds. The final two shots showing the smoke billowing on the floor in reverse, finally ending with the smoke alarms beeping turns itself off, as the smoke billows backwards. It fades out, and the following message, "Know your Escape Plan backwards", appears via smoke transition, row-by-row, as the Fire Kills logo and the URL fade in below.
FX/SFX: Live action in reverse.
Music/Sounds: Gregor F. Narholz’ orchestral piece Dolorous plays during the PIF. Also can be heard are the fire roaring, and the smoke alarm beeping.
Availability: Seen on some YouTube Channels.
Scare Factor: Low to Medium. Despite having the footage playing backwards, it can still be terrifying for sensitive viewers.
Matilda (2004)[]
Nickname(s): "Dolly".
Description: We zoom out from a doll's eye until we see the doll called Matilda sitting next to a small candle. The camera shot changes to show the flame reflecting in her eye and the camera shot changes to the candle melting quickly and starting a fire. The fire spreads towards Matilda, engulfing the doll completely until we fade out. The shot shows the burned bedroom and the last shot focuses on the doll's burnt and dismembered arm as the message, "Keep an eye on candles", appears, along with the Fire Kills logo and the URL.
FX/SFX: Live action
Music/Sounds: We hear a piano music called "Reflection" from Paul Reeves in the background (https://open.spotify.com/track/61PfvC6i8pq8NrrVGPe7Lj?si=Npal85ecRPyKlIaysg2WJg&utm_source=copy-link) as the female voice-over says, "Once upon a time, there was a dolly called Matilda. She was afraid of the dark; so the grown-ups put a night light in the bedroom. One night, Matilda thought she could smell something funny. It all happened so quickly. 'Help! Help!' cried Matilda. Sadly, this is where the story ends."
Availability: Very rare, seen on some YouTube Channels.
Scare Factor: Low to High. The doll and bedroom both being burned by the fire is disturbing, especially the end where it shows that her arm seems to be the only thing left of her. The Scare Factor doubles if you are scared of fire and/or dolls.
Don't Try This At Home[]
Nickname(s): "And he shall smite the wicked and plunge them into the fiery pit!", "How not to tackle a chip pan fire".
Description: We see a camera shot of a woman seeing a chip pan fire. Then it cuts to the word, "DON'T", fading in. It cuts to slow motion shots of the women grabbing the pan and swing it around which changes to a man doing the same thing, and it cuts to the words, "DON'T TRY", fading in, then it cuts to the man dropping the pan to ground in slow motion and a woman getting a glass of water, then it cuts to the words, "DON'T TRY THIS", fading in. Next, it cuts to the slow motion and regular shots of the woman throwing water on the chip pan fire, causing the fire to explode into a fire ball engulfing half of the room. Then it cuts to the words in the completed form, "DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME", then it fades to the camera shot of the room half burnt and charred from the result of the explosion as it zooms out, then it cuts to the following stacked message, "GET OUT STAY OUT CALL 999" complete with an female announcer and the Fire Kills and the website URL fades in.
FX/SFX: Live Action done in slow motion.
Music/Sounds: Chilling music plays in the background, along with sounds of fire crackling, spreading and exploding, and the female announcer saying the above message.
Cheesy Factor: Well, what do you think's going to happen if you fling your fiery chip pan around like a sword?
Availability: Seen on some YouTube channels.
Scare Factor: Medium to Nightmare. Most of This PIF is dramatic and disturbing to watch. It isn't a PIF that should be viewed in the dark. It probably aired on children's TV and scared the daylights out of young kids, but the fact that the woman seems to think that flinging the pan everywhere will put out the fire could be nightmare retardant (F.Y.I., nightmare retardant is when something in scary content has its scare factor lowered because of something cheesy, dumb, funny, poor quality, etc.)
On Your Child's Life (2013)[]
A genuinely harrowing PIF made in 2013.
Description: We see a small boy exploring a charred house and playing with equally charred toys. He says:
Last year in England, 15 children died in house fires. Children like yours. So, parents, I'd like you to make a promise. Repeat after me: "I swear on my child's life..."
He then pauses.
"...To test my smoke alarm on clock change day..."
He pauses again.
"...To give my family the best chance..."
And again.
"...of surviving a house fire."
And once again.
You did promise, didn't you?
He then picks up an old-fashioned alarm clock and says:
Because you can't turn back time.
We see that he now has fire related injuries. He then walks into the corner of the room and simply fades out, implying that it may have been his ghost and that he died in the fire. The Fire Kills logo then fades in.
FX/SFX: Live action.
Music/Sounds: We hear only the narration of the boy and an ambient and subtle. synth/piano track in the background.
Availability: Seen on some YouTube channels.
Scare Factor: Low. The PIF itself isn't scary, but the charred surroundings may feel creepy to some viewers and the boy's sudden injuries may be a small shock.
Depression Factor: Sad.
Test Yours Now (2019)[]
Description: We go through a house with a man closing an oven and putting the handkerchief on the still-working stove. We then zoom into the living room, the man leaving the room and a woman and her dog getting up from the couch, the dog's tail knocking over a flower vase on a candle. We then zoom into another TV room and see an outlet being burnt next to a TV with a PS3 and an Xbox controller, and the PS2 game case on the shelf placed the wrong way to avoid clearing their names. We go back to the kitchen, where the stove starts burning with the cabinets above it. On the bottom left, text reads, "Test Yours Now" and the bottom right has the Fire Kills logo.
FX/SFX: Live Action
Music/Sounds: TBA
Availability: Brand New, seen on 5 YouTube videos and counting.
Scare Factor: Medium.
See Also[]
Fire Kills - Scary Movie, a student project PSA made for them.