Action Tips: Practice a Fire Drill in Your Home

In the U.S., an estimated two people are injured from a fire every hour. Yet less than forty percent of households have prepared themselves for a household fire. Gather up your family and show them these simple ways to prepare.

Draw a Map of your Home

Mark every window, door, and smoke detector location. Try to find and draw at least two ways out of every room, especially bedrooms.

Prepare for a Fire

• With your family, decide on a safe distance away from the home that you will meet outdoors.
• If you have windows above the first floor, ask your parents if they would purchase an escape ladder for the windows.
• If you have young siblings, make sure they know your address and what calling 9-1-1 means.
• Test your smoke alarms. It’s best to have at least one on every floor.
• Experts recommend to own both ionization AND photoelectric alarms.
• Replace those batteries at least once a year!

Teach Everyone What to Do

Choose a room to show everyone what to do, using yourself as an example:

1. Roll out of bed when you hear the smoke alarm.
2. Crawl to the door and feel if it’s warm.
3. If the door is cool, open the door to look for smoke. If there’s no smoke, exit that way and close the door behind you.
4. If the door is warm or smoke appears, you’ll use another exit. If the other exit is a window above the first floor, show everyone how to unlock the window, but don’t exit the window unless it’s an emergency.
5. Smoke rises, so everyone should crawl and stay low to the floor.
6. Once a person is outside, he or she should go to the decided meeting place.
7. Lastly, assign certain adults of the house to alert younger siblings that may need assistance in an emergency.

Run your Drill

1. Push the button on the fire alarm.
2. Grab your cellular or cordless phone.
3. Everyone should follow the steps you outlined. Have the assigned adults watch the younger kids perform the drill.
4. Run through the steps as if the door feels cool.
5. Once outside, no one should go back indoors.
6. Pretend to call the fire department.
7. Run the drill again, this time pretending the door feels hot. Have everyone pretend as if they would use the other exit.

Talk about the Drill

Congratulate everyone on a successful drill, and tell them you’ll be practicing the drill at least two times a year!

For more information and advice on fire and household safety, click here: http://www.homesafetycouncil.org/safety_guide/sg_fire_w014.aspx