Tips to Creating a Fire Safety Plan
Fire damage is one of the most devastating and deadly accidents that can happen to a home. And experts say that you only have about two minutes to get out of a burning home before it's too late to escape. In the event of one, you want to know that you and your family will be able to get to safety in time. Creating a solid fire safety plan can help you be more prepared if a fire should happen in your home.
Assess Your Home
To make an effective fire safety plan, you want to be familiar with your home's layout and level of safety. Assess your home, choosing two potential escape routes out of each room using doors and windows. Go over your property thoroughly looking for anything that could be a fire hazard (such as overloaded outlets, outdated surge protectors, leaks, faulty wiring, ect.). Pay attention to any areas where a fire could easily break out, or a person could get trapped, and take this into account in your plan.
Create an Escape Plan
Time is crucial when escaping a fire. You don't want to waste precious seconds confused about how to get out of your home. Gather your family together and create an escape plan, discussing possible escape routes, establishing exits, and going over the layout of your home so that everyone is familiar with it. If you have young children, make a map of your home with this information and go over some fire safety points with them.
Pick a Meeting Place
A fire is unpredictable, and there is a chance your family may get separated in the disorder as you all escape. As a family, decide on a nearby meeting place where everyone can get to once they exit the home safely. This location will depend on where you live. You want it to be far enough that it won't be affected by the fire, but also close enough that all members of the family can reach it easily and quickly.
Check Your Smoke Alarms and Fire Extinguishers
Smoke detectors are arguably the most essential part of a fire safety plan. If you have fully operational smoke alarms on each level of your home, it won't matter if you are unaware or asleep when a fire has been started, because the smoke detector will let you know you and your family need to get to safety. They cut the chance of dying in a house fire in half. Be sure you are aware of the location of every smoke alarm in your home, and test them monthly and change their batteries biannually. Also check any fire extinguisher you have in your home. They can expire, and should be tested monthly just like your smoke alarms to be sure they are still operational and that their pressure is good.
Practice
A fire safety plan is useless if you and your family can't execute it properly. Practice your plan until you and everyone in your family can escape your home in two minutes or less. Practice in different scenarios, in different rooms of the house. Once you all have it perfected, practice two or three times a year.
Home fires are a scary and unpredictable tragedy, but there are ways to be prepared. Creating a fire safety plan that is well thought out and thoroughly practiced can be the key to saving your family if a fire ever happens in your home.
Do you have any questions or concerns? Disaster Professionals offers 24/7 emergency fire cleanup response experts who can answer any questions you may have. We're happy to help!