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Family Escape Plans

There certainly is no time for mistakes when a fire strikes. It can take less than two minutes for smoke fumes to overcome a child or an adult. Create an escape plan for your family and know what should be avoided.

Safety Tips:

• Know two ways out of every room.
• If you live in a multi-story apartment building, map out as many routes as possible to exit stairways on your floors of the building.
• If one of your escape routes in a second-or third-story window, consider investigating in a safety ladder.
• If you live in a high-rise building, plane to use stairways, never elevators, to escape fire.
• If you sleep with your bedroom doors CLOSED at night, be sure to have a smoke detector in each room.
• Exit procedures:
• The smoke detector will sound the alarm to wake you and your family. You may also want to develop a special signal that all family members will understand to mean “danger,” perhaps a police whistle. Use this signal only in emergencies.
• When you hear the alarm, roll out of bed onto the floor. Get down on your hands and knees, crawl to your door and touch it with your hand.
• If the door feels cool, brace it with your body and open it just a crack to check for smoke. If there is none, leave by your planned escape route. Remember to keep low, don’t stop for clothes, papers or valuables, and keep your head down to avoid the smoke. CRAWL LOW UNDER SMOKE!
• Meet at a pre-arranged place for a head count.
• Never go back into a burning building.
• It is important to go over your fire escape plan with your family. Make sure everyone knows the local emergency phone number.
• Make sure guests as well as your family know the sound of your smoke detector’s alarm and are familiar with your plan of escape.
• Make sure babysitters practice fire and burn safety tips, especially the use of safety ladders, escape routes, fire extinguishers, smoke detectors and emergency phone numbers.

Facts and Figures:

• The majority of fatal home fires occur at night, and the smell of smoke won’t always wake you up.
• Fire produces toxic gases, which can put you into a deeper sleep.
• Having a working smoke detector in your home cuts your chances of dying in a house fire by 50%.
• You can survive a fire in your home, if you know what to do, which is why every family should make and practice a fire escape plan:
  • Draw a floor plan of your home and mark two ways out of every room, including windows.
  • Agree on an outside meeting place. Pick a spot in front of your home where everyone will meet after they’ve escaped.
  • Physically practice your escape plan at least twice a year. Practice getting out quickly and carefully.
  • Make your escape plan realistic by pretending that some exits are blocked by fire and practice using alternative escape routes.
  • Be sure everyone in the family knows how to unlock and open every door and window in the house.
  • If you live in an apartment building ask your landlord to provide regularly scheduled fire drills. Know your building’s evacuation plan and never use the elevator during a fire.
  • If you live in a two-story house, purchase a fire escape ladder, which will provide a safe way to reach the ground from a second story window.
  • Test doors with the back of your hand before opening them. If the door feel swarm, use alternate escape route.

Build your Family Fire Escape Plan now!