Fire can spread rapidly through your home, leaving you as little as 2 minutes to escape safely once the smoke alarm sounds. Your ability to get out depends on advance warning from smoke alarms, and advance planning – a home fire escape plan that everyone in your family is familiar with and has practiced.

One-third of American households who made an estimate thought they would have at least 6 minutes before a fire in their home would become life threatening. The time available is often less. And only 8% said their first thought on hearing a smoke alarm would be to get out!

Basic Fire Escape Planning
Everyone in the household must understand the escape plan.  Walk through your home and inspect all possible exits and escape routes including doors & windows.  Note two ways out of each room, including windows and doors.  Make sure all exits and escape routes can be opened easily and are free of clutter.

Households with children should consider drawing a floor plan of your home. Using posters and markers is a great way to get children involved in fire safety in a non-threatening way. Mark the location of each smoke alarm. Mark the location of the meeting place on your escape plan.

Choose an outside meeting place. Neighbor’s house, a light post, mailbox, or stop sign.  The meeting place should be a safe distance from in front of your home.  Everyone will meet at this location after they’ve escaped.

If there are infants, older adults or family members with mobility limitations make sure that someone is assigned to assist them in the fire drill and in the event of an emergency. Assign a backup person too, in case the designee is not home during the emergency.  

Practicing Your Home Escape Plan
It will not work unless you practice it.  Practice your home fire escape plan twice a year.  A good reminder is when during the time changes when the smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector batteries are checked.

Make the drill as realistic as possible.  Allow children to first master fire escape planning 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. It is important to determine during the drill whether children and others can readily waken to the sound of the smoke alarm.  If they fail to awaken, make sure that someone is assigned to wake them up as part of the drill and in a real emergency situation.

If your home has two floors, every family member (including children) must be able to escape from the second floor rooms.  Escape ladders can be placed in or near windows to provide an additional escape route.  Practice setting up the ladder from a FIRST FLOOR window to make sure you can do it correctly and quickly.  Store the ladder near the 2nd story window where it will be used.  You do not want to have to search for it during a fire.

When you do your fire drill, everyone in the family should practice crawling low on their hands and knees, one to two feet above the ground.  By keeping your head low, you will be able to breath the “good” air closer to the floor.  It is important to practice crawling on your hands and knees, not your bellies, as some poisons produced by smoke are heavier than air and settle to the floor.

Closing doors on your way out slows the spread of fire, giving you more time to safely escape.

In some cases, smoke or fire may prevent you from exiting your home
To prepare for an emergency like this, practice “sealing yourself in for safety” as part of your home fire escape plan.

• Close all doors between you and the fire.
• Use towels to seal the door cracks and cover air vents to keep smoke from coming in.
• If possible, open your windows at the top and bottom so fresh air can get in.
• Practice going to your window and waving a lit flashlight or white towel/shirt/sheet to get someone’s attention or if there is a phone in the room, call 9-1-1.

Be fully prepared for a real fire: when a smoke alarm sounds, get out immediately.  
Once you’re out, STAY OUT !
Under no circumstances should you ever go back into a burning building.
If someone is missing, inform the fire department dispatcher when you call.
Firefighters have the skills and equipment to perform rescues

Stop, Drop, and Roll
If your clothes catch on fire, do not run.  Stop where you are, drop to the ground, cover your face with your hands, and roll over to smother the flames.

Fire Escape Planning for Older Adults
Knowing what to do in case of a fire is particularly important for older adults.  At age 65, people are twice as likely to be killed or injured by fires compared to the population at large.  This population is growing every year and in the United States, adults age 65 and older make up about 12% of the population,

Keep it low
If you live in a two story building, consider sleeping in a room on the ground floor in order to make emergency escape easier.  Make sure that smoke alarms are installed near any sleeping area, and that a telephone is installed where you sleep in case of an emergency.  

Sound the alarm
The majority of fatal fires occur when people are sleeping, and because smoke can put you into a deeper sleep rather than wake you, it is important to have a mechanical early warning of a fire to ensure that you wake up.  If anyone in your household is deaf or if your own hearing is diminished, consider installing a smoke alarm that uses a flashing light, vibration and/or higher decibel sound to alert you to a fire emergency.

Do the drill
Conduct your own, or participate in, regular fire drills to make sure you know what to do in the event of a home fire.  If you or someone you live with cannot escape alone, designate a member of the household to assist, and decide on backups in case the designee isn’t home.  ire drills are also a good opportunity to make sure that everyone is able to hear and respond to smoke alarms.  

Open up
Make sure you are able to open all doors and windows in your home; locks and pins should open easily from inside.  Check to be sure that windows have not been sealed shut with paint or nailed shut.  If they have, arrange for someone to break the seals all around your home or remove the nails.

Stay connected
Keep a telephone nearby, along with emergency phone numbers so that you can communicate with emergency personnel if you are trapped in your room by fire or smoke.

Other Tips
One of the most important things you can do to be prepared for an emergency in your home is to make sure your house number is clearly visible from the road. If not, install house numbers, install mail box numbers, and paint it on the curb to ensure that responding emergency personnel can find your home. This will help when the minutes count.

If windows or doors in your home have security bars, make sure that the bars have quick-release mechanisms inside so that they can be opened immediately in an emergency. Quick-release mechanisms won’t compromise your security, but they will increase your chances of safely escaping a home fire.

Tell guests or visitors to your home about your family’s fire escape plan. When staying overnight at other people’s homes, ask about their escape plan. If they do not 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.