Fire Damage Restoration: Creating An Escape Plan
House fires can be devastating and spread in a blink of an eye, which is why it is so important to have a fire escape plan for you and your family to be prepared to safely evacuate your home in the case of a fire. If you do not have a fire escape plan in place, now is a great time to implement one. Now that the weather is getting warmer you can make it a goal for your family to memorize the plan and practice it every couple of months to ensure everyone in the home is prepared and knows how to respond if a fire emergency occurs. Not sure where to start with a fire escape plan? Don’t worry, our fire damage restoration experts can help.
- First things first, be sure that you have working smoke detectors in every room of your home. These detectors are often the first thing to alarm and alert you that a fire has broken out, so be sure that there is one on every level of the home and in every room where someone sleeps. Be sure that you change out the batteries every 6 months so that they are ready and working properly.
- Once you have working smoke detectors throughout the home, inform the family that as soon as one of the alarms goes off, that activates the fire escape plan. Every member of the family will then need to proceed with the evacuation plan.
- For an escape plan to be effective, there should be at least two safe exit routes from each room. Doors and windows are the exit routes that should be utilized. For upstairs windows, consider installing emergency extendable ladders, and for basement windows be sure that there are ladders built into your window wells. The door should always be the first choice, however, you need to be sure that opening the door does not let the fire into the room. Before opening any door, test the handle and feel for heat. If it is hot to the touch, the fire is likely directly behind the door so do not open it. Instead, proceed to the window.
- Once safe exit routes have been established from each room, take into consideration the members of your family and who might need assistance, including infants, elderly, and pets. Assign one person who is able to help those who will need assistance so that every person has someone to be accountable for. That being said, you should never delay exiting a burning building searching for other family members or pets. Instead, your time will best be spent getting yourself out and alerting emergency response personnel and firefighters to the number of people that may still be in the home, and where they may be located.
- Practice how to safely exit a building that is on fire by staying low to the ground. Smoke inhalation can kill you before the flames even get a chance, so it is important to practice staying low below the smoke. IF easily available, find a clean cloth or towel or article of clothing that you can fashion over your nose and mouth to act as a filter for your breathing.
While this may all seem overwhelming, once you start to plan for fire safety, it actually becomes easier. Practice and preparation are the best defense you have against a house fire. At Sierra Restoration, we are experts at fire damage restoration in Smithfield, and know just how overwhelming fires can be. Having a fire escape plan will greatly reduce the stress and risk on you if a fire does occur, then you can let us handle the restoration process to take even more of the burden of fire damage restoration off of your shoulders.
