If a fire breaks out in your home, would you know what to do? It's just one of the questions asked during a live demo for "Fire! Science & Safety." It's the newest exhibit at the California Science Center.
"The environment is familiar. Everybody has a kitchen, a stove, so these are the kind of tips that we'd like people to carry with them back home and practice," said Curator David Bibas, as he showed off the kitchen created for the exhibit.
Visitors are invited inside Unit 911 of the Casa del Fuego apartments, where they can interact and engage in hands-on activities designed to teach guests about the science of fire as they explore the fire hazards in each room.
"Remove the oxygen from this grease fire in order to put it out," Bibas explained.
He said the exhibit aims to make people aware of fire dangers and how to prevent them. They are lessons burn survivor Dami Mokuolu says are critical. He grew up in Nigeria and was just 3½ years old when he tripped over a cord in the dark while carrying a lantern, forever changing his life.
"[I had] third- and fourth-degree burns over 50% of my body through my arms, face, legs," Mokuolu said.
Now 18, he has had more than 50 surgeries and is grateful to be alive, he said. He's also a student at California State University, Northridge, where he plays basketball. As a fire safety advocate, he talks to kids through the Children's Burn Foundation, the group that brought him to the U.S. and aided in his recovery.
"Last year, we were able to reach about 100,000 individuals. In one year, this exhibit is going to be seen by more than 350,000 individuals, so it's going to more than triple our reach," said Kathy Toppino, chair of the board of trustees for the Children's Burn Foundation.
The science center collaborated with the Children's Burn Foundation and the Los Angeles Fire Department to create the exhibit.
"People think, 'Well this is common sense,' but yet when you take a look at what your practices are at home, people do these things all the time and they think it's not going to happen to me," said LAFD Assistant Chief Jaime Moore.
"Seeing it here causes people to realize, 'Oh my gosh, I do that. I let the cord go across the sink when I'm running the water,' or 'I leave an extension cord like this on the floor,'" Moore said.
But his favorite section of the exhibit is when visitors get to practice the proper way to use a fire extinguisher.
"A lot of people buy them and they put them in their kitchen or their garage and they don't use them. They don't even read the instructions, and they think they're going to have that opportunity when the event occurs," Moore said.
Creators hope the information families learn here will translate into safer practices back home.
"It's no different than maybe a fire drill at school or an evacuation, things like that," Mokuolu said.
They're fighting fire with fire preparedness.
"If we can save only one life or prevent burns, then I think this exhibit would have been worthwhile to do," Bibas said.