Will You Know How to Escape a House Fire?

11/12/2019 (Permalink)

Having and practicing a plan to escape from a house fire can mean the difference between life and death.

If a fire starts in your home, it’s critical that you and your family get out of the house fast, ideally in less than two minutes! Yet, you may be struggling to breathe in sheer darkness—while you attempt to keep yourself and your family members calm. Develop and rehearse an escape plan before a fire starts, and you’ll have a much better chance of escaping safely.

Make an Escape Plan

• If you have young children (under 6) who cannot get outside by themselves, assign an adult to help each child get out safely.
• Determine two ways out of every room in your home, in case one exit (typically a door) is blocked or dangerous to use.
• Choose a meeting place a safe distance from your home.

Practice the Plan

Fires can start anywhere and at any time, so practice the plan at different times of the day and night using different ways out. Do this at least twice a year.

• For night-time drills, your children should start the drill in their bedrooms and wait for the alarm.
• One adult should sound the smoke alarm and start the timer. Everyone should move swiftly to the safe meeting spot.
• In a real fire, you may need to get low and stay below smoke. Practice this, too.
• Once everyone arrives at the meeting place, stop the timer. Did everyone get there in less than two minutes? If not, run the drill again.

Other Important Tips

• Test your smoke alarms each month. Make sure your kids recognize the sound. There should be a smoke alarm on every level of your home, and one in each bedroom.
• Teach children to never hide from firefighters and never go back inside a burning building. Once you’re out, stay out!
• Teach everyone to check doors for heat with the back of a hand before opening and, if the door is hot, to use a different way out.
• If you need to use an escape ladder, show everyone where you keep it and practice how to use it.

In a real fire, once your family is gathered at the safe meeting place, call 911 and keep everyone close until firefighters arrive!

If your home or business suffers damage from a fire, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860.206.6141

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The team at SERVPRO of West Hartford has specialized training and experience in fire restoration and cleanup, as well as natural disaster and storm damage cleanup, water damage and mold remediation, and chemical and biohazard cleanup. Call SERVPRO of West Hartford (860.206.6141) any time.

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If your home or business suffers damage from a fire, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860.206.6141