If a fire starts in your home, you need to know what to do. Any hesitation can result in injury or fatality. Only 23 percent of households have actually developed and practiced a home fire escape plan to ensure they could escape quickly and safely. By preparing and practicing an escape plan with your family, you have a better chance of surviving a fire.
Most residential fires occur between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. Deaths from residential fires occur in greater numbers between midnight and 4 a.m. when most people are asleep. An average of 800 fires occurs in residential buildings each day in the United States. More than 6,500 persons die each year from fire with more than half of them children and older citizens. The majority of these deaths are in residential fires.
Fire can spread rapidly through your home, leaving you as little as two minutes to escape safely once the alarm sounds. Even if the fire isn’t large, there is a good chance smoke can fill the entire home. The heat and gas associated with smoke can kill far more quickly than the actual flames. Smoke affects visibility. Smoke and toxic gases may cause dizziness and disorientation. In the confusion, you can easily become lost or trapped in your home. Family members must understand that their safety depends upon knowing how to quickly leave the home, and where to meet outside of the home, once they escape.
Making a family escape plan should involve all members of your family. So take the time to gather your family together to make a step by step emergency escape plan. Include children in the planning as well.
1. Make a floor plan of your home.
2. Find two ways out of each room and mark both ways on the floor plan. Discuss the best escape routes and remember that windows can be used as exits. Be sure all windows you plan to use as exits can be opened.
3. Select a meeting location right outside the house for everyone to assemble after they have escaped the house. This way you can account for everyone.
4. Practice your plan to ensure everyone knows how to get out. Intentionally block one exit in each room so that you can practice using the alternate exit. Get out quickly but carefully.
5. Remember to get out first and to call 911 second.
6. Once you are out of the house, do not go back inside for any reason. Only professional firefighters should enter a building that is on fire — even if the residents’ pets or prized possessions are inside.
Things to think about while making your plan
• Install smoke detectors on every level of your home outside sleeping areas.
• If you live in a multi-story home, consider purchasing escape ladders for each bedroom.
• Know how to use them and store them near the window. If the stairs are blocked with debris or smoke, the window may be the only means of escape.
• Make certain your house number is visible from the street in both the day and night to make sure the fire department can easily find your home.
• If your windows are equipped with security bars, make certain they have quick release devices installed and make sure everyone in the family knows how to use them.
• Test your smoke detectors once a month and replace the batteries twice a year. It is recommended that you change your smoke detector batteries when you change your clocks.
Rhett Livingston is a Bluffton firefighter and owner of Lowcountry Lightning Protection in Bluffton at 1-877-505-5333 or check the wesbite: www.lowcountrylightning1.com.