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Fire Escape

As soon as you child is old enough to talk and walk, they are old enough to be taught what to do in case of a fire. Having a fire escape plan in place that you can practice as a family is a very important safety feature that can save your family's lives.

The first step in creating a fire escape plan is to sit down and draw out a plan that identifies all of the options available for exiting your house in case a fire breaks out. These possible exits should include all appropriate doors and windows on the ground floor and any windows or doors that lead to a safe exit on the upper floors. You should include as many different exit routes as possible since you will have no way of knowing where the fire will begin or which exits will become blocked by fire or smoke.

After you have identified the possible exits, you will need to make any adjustments necessary to allow the use of those exits. For example, do not put any furniture or decorations in the way of the exits. Also, make sure that any locks on these exits are within your child's reach and easy for them to use.
To make exiting an upper floor window more feasible, you may wish to purchase a folding ladder. These ladders can be purchased at most home improvement or major retail stores and are usually compact enough for easy storage yet simple to unfold and use.

After you have identified the exits and made their use easy and accessible, it is time to sit down with your children and explain the fire escape plan. When explaining your family's fire escape plan it is important that you not only show your child how to escape but also demonstrate the plan for them. Some points to cover when explaining this plan to your children include…

• How to recognize the fire alarm. So that your children can recognize the sound of the fire alarm, it is a good idea to force it to sound in their presence and explain to them what it means if they ever hear it go off.

• How to determine which exit is a safe exit. Explain to your children how to feel a door before opening it to determine if it is hot or not. Discuss what they should do if their door is hot to the touch.

• Using an exit. Practice using each exit with your children. Show them how to unlock windows and doors. Show them how to safely use a fire ladder if its use is appropriate for their age.

• Fire safety. It is important to include such safety measure as what to do if your child's clothing catches on fire or how to avoid smoke inhalation into the fire escape plan. Teach your children to stop, drop and roll on the ground if their clothing is in flames. Also, teach them to cover their mouth and nose, preferably with a damp cloth, if their room or exit contains a lot of smoke.

• Designate a safe place outside of the house. Once you have taught your children how to exit the house in case of fire, it is equally important that they know where to go once they are outside. By having a designated meeting place, either at the farthest corner of your yard or at a neighbor's house, you cannot only make sure that your children do not wander into the street or other harmful areas, but you can also make determining who is still in the house a quicker and easier task.

Once you have explained the fire escape plan to your children, it is very important that you practice putting it to use. Ideally, you should stage fire drills as a family once a month. As your children get older, you can schedule these drills for every six months or even once a year.

Each time that you stage a fire drill, you should try to vary the circumstances. For the first few drills, make sure that you are with your child from start to finish. As they master the escape skills, you may want to try to have them practice getting out by themselves. You should also vary where the pretend fire is so that your children can get practice at escaping from many different rooms and exits in your house.

Practice fire drills should be handled as if there really was a fire. Stress the importance of hurrying without being unsafe. You could even time the drills to motivate your children to move quickly.

By using a fire escape plan, drilling it consistently and changing it as your children grow older and more skilled, you increase your family's chances of survival should a fire ever break out in your home.



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