Practice Your Family's Fire Escape Plan
Have you practiced your plan recently? You should, because changes that happen within your home could affect how well the plan works. By practicing four times every year—once every time the season changes—you can make any changes that will ensure you and your family's safety.
- Have you practiced your plan in the dark? You should, because it's important to simulate as much as possible what a real fire situation would be like. Most fires happen at night, and the smoke from a fire can make it impossible to see anything. By practicing in the dark, you can see how well your plan works when you have to "feel" your way along your escape route.
- If someone doesn't wake up, you may need to install a new alarm over their bed. Have you tested whether everyone is awakened by the smoke alarms? When you practice your plan, hold a fire "drill" at night, when people are sleeping. Some people—especially children—sleep so soundly even a smoke alarm won't wake them.
- In a fire, the smoke will rise towards the ceiling, so crawling on your hands and knees will give you practice with staying down where it's easier to see and breathe.
- Have you kept your hallways and stairs free of clutter? While boxes, books, bicycles, carriages, plants and toys may seem harmless in the daylight, they can become dangerous obstacles during a dark, smoky fire. They won't trap you from getting out—they may trap a firefighter who's trying to get in.
- Did you remember to feel the doorknobs before you opened any door? In a fire, this is the surest way to tell whether there is fire on the other side of a closed door. Be sure to feel the doorknob with the back of your hand; if the knob is hot, this will ensure you won’t burn your fingertips.
- Did you remember to close doors behind you after you’ve gone through? Open doors allow for free oxygen flow, which can help a fire to spread to other parts of your home. Closing doors behind you helps to contain any fire.
- If you have self-closing fire doors (many apartment buildings do), did you make sure that the doors were able to close behind you? Often obstacles such as thick doormats will keep doors open, allowing oxygen to fan the fire.
- Have you checked to see that your windows open and close easily? Often old windows or newly painted are stuck shut, making them difficult (or impossible) to open in a fire.
- Have escape windows been kept clear of any obstructions, such as air conditioners or fans? Such items should never be installed in windows that you’ve designated as part of your escape plan.
- Do you have security gates covering your windows? If so, make sure they’re never kept locked, and are equipped with an approved quick-release lever that everyone in your home can operate. Not only can locked bars prevent you from escaping a fire, they can prevent firefighters from getting in to help you and your family.
- If your windows are more than 12 feet above ground, do you have approved fire ladders or fire escapes as a means to safely get to the ground? Fire ladders are easy to hook to the window ledge and lower, and can be an essential part of escaping from a window.
- If you have fire escapes, have they been checked recently? They need to be inspected regularly to make sure they’re in good working condition, capable of supporting a lot of weight.
- Does your family sleep with their doors closed? If so, you may want to install hard-wired smoke alarms, which use the electricity in your home to operate. This can give everyone in your home an early warning, because hard-wired alarms can all be connected so that every alarms sounds when one goes off.
- Do you have hard-wired smoke alarms in your house? If so, make sure they have a battery as a "back up", because hard-wired alarms won't work if the electricity goes off. Check and change these batteries as you would with any smoke alarm.
