Fire Safety Merit Badge
Ten requirements in forty parts. Many are demonstrations, from a fire extinguisher and fire blanket to a match, flint and steel, a charcoal fire, a campfire and a camp stove. Your family is part of it: candle safety, a home fire-safety inspection with an adult, and an escape plan and home fire drill. You also teach a fire safety skill to other Scouts, and requirement 10 is a fire station visit or career research.
Elective Merit Badges Merit Badges Outdoors Requirements Safety Teaching
The plan behind this
What involves your family or home
| requirement | what it needs |
|---|---|
| 5(c) | show how to light and put out a candle, then discuss candle safety with your counselor and then with your family |
| 5(d) | with the help of an adult, inspect a home (or a similar building near where you live or at a camp) using the Home Fire Safety Checklist in the pamphlet or one your counselor approves; present the completed checklist and discuss your findings |
| 5(e) | find out what smoke and CO alarms your community requires; list your home's alarms, their locations and their expiration dates |
| 5(f) | demonstrate maintaining smoke and CO alarms, and review plans to replace expired ones |
| 5(g) | with your family, develop a home fire-escape plan and a fire-drill schedule; draw a floor plan with exits marked and a map with your family meeting point; conduct a home fire drill |
What is demonstrated
| requirement | what you show |
|---|---|
| 2(c) | using a fire extinguisher and a fire blanket |
| 3(a) | stop, drop, roll, cool and call (explained and demonstrated) |
| 5(c) | lighting and extinguishing a candle safely |
| 5(f) | maintenance of smoke and CO alarms |
| 8(b) | lighting a match safely, extinguishing it and disposing of it |
| 8(c) | sparks from flint and steel or a ferro rod, caught to create a flame, then extinguished using a principle of the fire tetrahedron |
| 8(d) | the safe way to start a charcoal fire |
| 8(e) | collecting and setting up tinder, kindling and fuel, igniting the fire lay and safely extinguishing it |
| 8(f) | using a camp stove |
Teaching a skill: 8(h)
Develop a lesson plan for a fire safety skill or topic (such as lighting a candle, a match, a charcoal fire, a lantern or a camp stove, using flint and steel, or setting up a fire lay), review it with your counselor, then teach it to one or more Scouts using the EDGE method.
Requirement 10: ONE of two
| route | what it asks |
|---|---|
| 10(a) | visit a fire station in person: the types of fire service vehicles, and from the firefighters, the fire prevention activities in your community and their careers |
| 10(b) | three careers in fire safety, one researched |
The explanations
The science of fire (1), classes of fires and extinguishers (2(a), 2(b)), burn injuries, airway burns and carbon monoxide poisoning (3(b) to 3(d)), the four classifications of fire origin and arson (4), home and seasonal fire causes, gas and smoke, and reporting a fire (5(a), 5(b), 5(h), 5(i)), flammable and combustible liquids (6), public buildings (7), Leave No Trace and campsite fire safety (8(a), 8(g)), and wildland fires (9).
What this page is
The Fire Safety merit badge, drawn so the demonstrations, the family and home work of requirement 5 and the lesson taught in 8(h) stand out, with the three parts that build on earlier ones linked and requirement 10 drawn as a question. It is not a copy of the requirements: each step is a short label with a link to the official requirements, which are what actually governs and which change from year to year. The free official pamphlet is the fuller guide.
Sources for this page
- Fire Safety Merit Badge Requirements, Merit Badge Hub, last modified 2026-05-05 · The requirements themselves, and the free official pamphlet linked from them.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 7.0.0.3 · The process every merit badge is earned through, which this page does not repeat.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 7.0.4.3 · Which version of a changed requirement applies to a Scout who has already started.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 4.0.0.1 · Why the requirements are not in the Guide to Advancement and are expected to change annually.
Last checked against its sources on .