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APPENDICES
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APPENDIX C. HOME FIRE ESCAPE PLANNING
Fire can spread rapidly through your home, leaving
you a short time to escape safely. Your ability to get
out depends on advance warning from smoke
detectors and advance planning - a home fire escape
plan that everyone in your family is familiar with and
has practiced.
• Pull together everyone in your household and
make an evacuation plan.
• Draw a floor plan of your home, showing two ways
out of each room, including windows. Don’t forget
to mark the location of every smoke detector.
Test all smoke detectors (by a qualified testing
laboratory) periodically, to ensure to ensure their
serviceability. Replace batteries as required.
• Make sure that everyone understands the
escape plan and recognizes the sound of smoke
alarm. Verify that the escape routes are clear and
that doors and windows can be opened easily.
• If windows or doors in your home have security
bars, make sure that the bars have quick-release
mechanisms on the inside, so that they can be
opened immediately in an emergency case. Quick
release mechanisms won’t compromise your
security, but they will increase your chances of
safely escaping a home fire.
• Practice the escape plan at least twice a year,
making sure that everybody is involved - from
kids to grandparents. Allow children to master fire
escape planning and practice before holding a
fire drill at night when they are sleeping. The
objective is to practice, not to frighten, so telling
children there will be a drill before they go to bed
can be as effective as a surprise drill. If children
or others do not readily waken to the sound of
the smoke alarm, or if there are infants or family
members with mobility limitations, make sure that
someone is assigned to assist them in fire drill
and in the event of an emergency.
• Agree on an outside meeting place where
everyone can meet after they’ve escaped.
Remember to get out first, and then call for help.
Never go back inside until the fire department
gives the OK.
• Have everyone memorize the emergency phone
number of the fire department. That way any
member of the household can call from a cellular
phone or a neighbor’s home.
• Be fully prepared for a real fire: when a smoke
alarm sounds, get out immediately and once you
are out, stay bout - leave the firefighting to the
professional!
• If you live in an apartment building, make sure that
you are familiar wit the building evacuation plan. In
case of a fire, use the stairs, never the elevator.
Tell guests or visitors to your home about your
family’s fire escape plan. When visiting other
people’s home, ask about their escape plan. If they
don’t have a plan in place, offer to help them make
one. This is especially important when children are
permitted to attend “sleepovers” at friends' homes.