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8/7/2020
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Basic fire escape planning
Your ability to get out depends on advance warning from smoke alarms and advance planning
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Pull together everyone in your household and make a plan. Walk through your home and inspect
all possible exits and escape routes. Households with children should consider drawing a floor
plan of their home, marking two ways out of each room, including windows and doors. Also,
mark the location of each smoke alarm.
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Install smoke alarms in every sleeping room, outside each sleeping area and on every level of the
home. NFPA 72, National Fire Alarm Code® requires interconnected smoke alarms throughout
the home. When one sounds, they all sound.
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Everyone in the household must understand the escape plan. When you walk through your plan,
check to make sure the escape routes are clear and doors and windows can be opened easily.
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Choose an outside meeting place (i.e. neighbor's house, a light post, mailbox, or stop sign) a safe
distance in front of your home where everyone can meet after they've escaped. Make sure to mark
the location of the meeting place on your escape plan.
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Go outside to see if your street number is clearly visible from the road. If not, paint it on the curb
or install house numbers to ensure that responding emergency personnel can find your home.
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Have everyone memorize the emergency phone number of the fire department. That way any
member of the household can call from a neighbor's home or a cellular phone once safely outside.
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If there are infants, older adults, or family members with mobility limitations, make sure that
someone is assigned to assist them in the fire drill and in the event of an emergency. Assign a
backup person too, in case the designee is not home during the emergency.
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If windows or doors in your home have security bars, make sure that the bars have emergency
release devices inside so that they can be opened immediately in an emergency. Emergency
release devices won't compromise your security - but they will increase your chances of safely
escaping a home fire.
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Tell guests or visitors to your home about your family's fire escape plan. When staying overnight
at other people's homes, ask about their escape plan. If they don't have a plan in place, offer to
help them make one. This is especially important when children are permitted to attend
"sleepovers" at friends' homes.
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Be fully prepared for a real fire. When a smoke alarm sounds, get out immediately. Residents
of high-rise and apartment buildings may be safer "defending in place."
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Once you're out, stay out! Under no circumstances should you ever go back into a burning
building. If someone is missing, inform the fire department dispatcher when you call. Firefighters
have the skills and equipment to perform rescues.
Putting your plan to the test
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Practice your home fire escape plan twice a year, making the drill as realistic as possible.
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Make arrangements in your plan for anyone in your home who has a disability.
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Allow children to master fire escape planning and practice before holding a fire drill at night
when they are sleeping. The objective is to practice, not to frighten, so telling children there will
be a drill before they go to bed can be as effective as a surprise drill.
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It's important to determine during the drill whether children and others can readily waken to the
sound of the smoke alarm. If they fail to awaken, make sure that someone is assigned to wake
them up as part of the drill and in a real emergency situation.
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If your home has two floors, every family member (including children) must be able to escape
from the second-floor rooms. Escape ladders can be placed in or near windows to provide an
additional escape route. Review the manufacturer's instructions carefully so you'll be able to use a
safety ladder in an emergency. Practice setting up the ladder from a first-floor window to make