Family Fire Safety

            The month of October is more than scary costumes, trick-or-treating and cooler weather. It’s also fire safety month, a great reminder for all of us to make sure we protect ourselves and families from house fires. According to an NFPA survey, only one of every three American households has actually developed and practiced a home fire escape plan. Do you have a fire-safety plan in place for your family? If not, you need one. Experts say that you only have two minutes to escape a burning home before it’s too late. Everyone needs to know what to do and where to go if there’s a fire. This is why it’s so important for families to create such a plan and practice it until everyone in the household can escape in less than two minutes. If you’re unsure how to do this, here are some great tips from the experts.

• Make an escape plan. Walk through each room in your home with your family and discuss the possible areas of escape and exits. Try to find at least two ways out of each room, including windows and doors (check to make sure all of them are in working order). If you have young children, work with them on making a map of your home, and be sure to highlight each escape route and mark the location of each smoke alarm.
• Show children how to get out. Before opening a door, touch it first. If the door is hot, keep it closed and find another exit. Also, show them how to exit a smoke-filled building by lying on their bellies and scooting themselves out under the smoke.
• Close doors behind you as you leave. A closed door may slow the spread of smoke, heat and fire.
• Choose an outside meeting place. It can be next to your mailbox, a neighbor’s house, a light post or a tree that is a safe distance in front of your home once everyone has escaped. It’s also important to mark the location of the meeting place on your escape plan.
• Make sure emergency vehicles can find your house. If your house number isn’t easily visible, try painting it on the curb or installing house numbers so that emergency crews can find your home.
• Be sure everyone who may need help escaping has an assistant. Assign family members to assist infants, older adults or family members with disabilities through the fire drill or in the event of an emergency.
• Once you’re out of the house, stay out. You should never go back into a burning building. If someone is missing, inform the firefighters. Be sure everyone in your household understands this.
• Be sure everyone can escape from the top floor. If your home has more than one floor, every family member should be able to escape from the upper floors. Escape ladders can be placed in or near the windows to provide additional escape routes. Practice setting up the ladder from a first-floor window to make sure you can do it correctly and quickly. Let children practice from a first-floor window only, and be sure to store the ladder near the window where it can be easily accessed.
• Practice, and then practice some more. Creating a plan isn’t enough. Practice it until everyone in the household can escape in less than two minutes. Practice by yelling, “Fire!” many times and then going through different rooms in different scenarios. Practice crawling under smoke and testing door handles. Practice your fire safety drill at least twice a year, and make the drill as realistic as possible.
• Let guests or visitors know about your family’s escape plan. Also, when staying overnight at other people’s homes, ask about their escape plan. This is especially important when children have sleepovers at friends’ homes.
• Display your home’s fire safety plan and diagram in a central location. The refrigerator or a cork board in the kitchen is a great place for it. This is important so that family members (and overnight guests) can familiarize themselves with the information.

Because a small flame can get out of control and turn into a large, uncontrollable fire in less than 30 seconds, a well-practiced fire safety plan is something every family needs. A good plan can do a lot to prevent a disaster, or at least to lessen the panic, if a dangerous situation were to arise.

Mom and author Gina Klein resides in Kansas City with her husband, two daughters and a houseful of animals.