17
PROTECTING YOUR FAMILY FROM FIRE
Putting up smoke alarms is just one step in
protecting your family from fires. You must also
reduce the chance a fire will start in your home,
and have a plan for escaping safely if one does.
To have a good fire safety program, you must:
• Develop a family escape plan and prac-
tice it with everyone in your family,
including small children. 1) Draw a floor
plan of your home and identify at least
two exits from each room and one way to
get out of each bedroom without opening
the door; 2) Decide on a meeting place a
safe distance from home, and make sure
everyone knows to wait there; 3) Know
where to go to call the Fire Department
from outside the home; 4) Make sure
everyone—including all children—know
what the alarm signal means and how to
react to it. Teach them they must be pre-
pared to leave the home by themselves if
needed; 5) Hold fire drills every 6 months
and practice how to escape safely. Show
children how to check if doors are hot
before opening them. Show them how to
use an alternate exit if a door is hot and
shouldn’t be opened. Teach them to stay
close to the floor and crawl if necessary.
• Install at least one smoke alarm on every
level of your home, in every bedroom,
and in every sleeping area. Keep alarms
clean, and test them weekly. Replace
smoke alarms immediately if they are not
working properly. Smoke alarms that do
not work cannot alert you to a fire.
• Keep at least one working fire extin-
guisher on every floor, and an additional
one in the kitchen. Have fire escape lad-
ders or other reliable means of escape
from an upper floor in case the stairs are
blocked.
• Follow safety rules, and prevent hazard-
ous situations: 1) Use smoking materials
properly. Never smoke in bed. 2) Keep
matches or lighters away from children;
3) Store flammable materials in proper
containers; 4) Keep electrical appliances
in good condition and don’t overload
electrical circuits; 5) Keep stoves, barbe-
cue grills, fireplaces and chimneys free
from grease and debris; 6) Never leave
anything cooking on the stove unat-
tended; 7) Keep portable heaters and
open flames, like candles, away from
flammable materials; 8) Don’t allow
rubbish to accumulate.
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