Whether you have children or live
alone, in a duplex or a two-story house, it's a good idea to make a plan for
how to evacuate your home.
If you work in an office building,
chances are your company has a fire drill at least once a year. If you have
kids, their schools have fire drills at least twice a year. Why not do the same
thing at home?
With a proper plan and by practicing
regularly, you increase the odds that everyone gets out safely in case of a
fire in your home.
Tips
for making a fire escape map
Any time you stay at a hotel, you've
probably noticed a fire escape map on the door of the hotel room. It makes
perfect sense to draw a map that shows the exits for every room in your home.
It's easy; and there are plenty of options online to help you draw one up. Check
out NFPA for more safety tips and advice about creating a fire escape map.
Maps should include:
·
Two
escape routes for each room in the home.
·
Locations
of fire extinguishers in the home.
·
Meeting
place outside the home to meet in case of fire.
·
Emergency
phone numbers.
After
you make a fire escape map
Put the map in the bedrooms and common
areas of your home, including the bathroom and kitchen.
Have a discussion with the members of
the family to discuss the map and what is expected of everyone if a fire were
to happen. Make sure everyone knows where to meet and the emergency phone
number.
Above all, make sure to practice. If
it's your first time, do it during the day. Make sure everyone knows the escape
routes for each room of the house.
A few weeks later, run through
everything again at night. Why? Because most deadly fires occur at night.
Knowing this fact is another good reason to make sure that your smoke detectors
are installed and working properly.
Do a fire drill four times a year.
Proper planning, practicing, and
making sure that everyone knows what to do can mean the difference between
everyone getting out safely and a disaster that no one wants to think about.
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